BCI Engineers and Scientists

In 2003, South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) decided to pursue a dual track for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir Project. While the project delivery team, led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), continued with the development of the Project Implementation Report, SFWMD proceeded with the reservoir design.

The objectives of the reservoir project were to improve the timing of environmental water supply deliveries to stormwater treatment areas and the Water Conservation Areas, to reduce Lake Okeechobee’s regulatory releases to coastal estuaries, to meet supplemental agricultural irrigation demands, and to increase flood protection within the EAA. The original reservoir design called for an earth embankment with armored slopes on the interior of the reservoir. The USACE proposed a new design for the interior slopes consisting of a wide bench mid-slope covered with riprap.

BCI joined with Black & Veatch Corporation to review the design of this wave-break bench on the upstream embankment. BCI performed a peer review of the methodology and numerical model used for wave setup computation, and calculated the wave height and wave runup for the design conditions. Following BCI’s evaluation, the original reservoir design was implemented, saving SFWMD an estimated $10 million in construction costs.