Everglades Restoration Accelerated by Five Years

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state fully executed all remaining contracts for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir. A landmark funding surge brings total Everglades investments to nearly $9.5 billion. This contract completion accelerates the project timeline to 2029, a full five years ahead of the original schedule. Once completed, the infrastructure will move up to 3 billion gallons of clean water per day southward from Lake Okeechobee, recharging the Everglades and slashing toxic estuary discharges. Concurrently, a collaborative study revealed that Florida’s restored wetlands are actively sequestering 14 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually—the equivalent of offsetting 10% of the state’s entire transportation sector emissions. For more information see https://news.fiu.edu/2026/everglades-restoration-strengthens-south-floridas-climate-resilience-study-finds