SFWMD Governing Board Approves Update to Lower West Coast Water Supply Plan

Dec. 18, 2017

West Palm Beach, FL – The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board last week approved an update to its Lower West Coast Water Supply Plan. The plan is critical to ensuring enough water is available for the needs of residents, agriculture, businesses and the environment in a region that includes Lee, most of Collier and portions of Charlotte, Hendry, Glades and Monroe counties.

"This region is one of the fastest growing areas of the entire nation," said SFWMD Governing Board Member Rick Barber. "Updating this Water Supply Plan at such a crucial time is imperative for the future of the Lower West Coast. I am appreciative of our staff's hard work to develop this recommendation based on science, as well as feedback from key stakeholders."

Ensuring adequate water supply for all its 8.1 million residents and the environment is one of SFWMD's core missions. Every five years the District updates water supply plans for five different regions: the Lower West Coast, Upper Kissimmee River, Lower Kissimmee River, Upper East Coast and Lower East Coast. The Lower West Coast Water Supply Plan, created in 1994 and last updated in 2012, lists all of the utility, restoration and other projects necessary to provide adequate public, agricultural and environmental water supply in this region for all use categories.