|
Everglades Restoration
Science, Engineering and Consulting Services (2003 – Ongoing)
In support of the South Florida Water Management
District’s (SFWMD) Comprehensive Everglades
Restoration Plan, MACTEC is providing science,
engineering and consulting services under five
separate contracts.
The approval of funding by
the federal government and the State of Florida
to implement the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration
Plan (CERP) provided a unique opportunity to restore
an ecological treasure and ensure the health of
Florida’s water management system. Over
the next 20 years, teams of engineers and scientists
will seek to reverse the consequences of over-drainage
and impoundment, and allow the Everglades to resume
its former, free-flowing course from Lake Okeechobee
to Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
While the rewards will be
great, the challenges are unprecedented. The three-fold
purpose of the restoration – to heal the
dying ecosystem while providing Florida residents
with both flood protection and an adequate and
safe water supply – calls for ambitious
engineering solutions to recapture most of the
fresh water that now is dissipated through damaging
point discharges to the ocean and gulf.
MACTEC is proud to be a part
of this monumental effort. We have been selected
by the SFWMD to provide services within all 11
disciplines of their Science and Engineering Support
Services Contract, including: Agricultural Engineering;
Biogeochemistry; Chemistry; Civil Engineering;
Environmental Engineering; Environmental Science;
GIS and Remote Sensing; Hydrogeology; Quality
Assurance / Quality Control; Technical Writing;
and Toxicology. MACTEC has also been approved
to provide services on four additional contracts:
Environmental Engineering Support Services; Environmental
Risk Assessment; General Surveying Services; and
Professional Geotechnical Engineering & Testing.
Our connection with the Everglades
plan also includes multi-year contracts with the
National Park Service (NPS). Personnel from our
Florida offices have provided environmental services
to NPS in support of land acquisition for Everglades
National Park and the Big Cypress National Preserve.
The acquisition parcels range in size from small
tracts currently owned by individuals to parcels
comprised of several square miles, to be acquired
from state agencies.
MACTEC teams have conducted
Phase I and Phase II assessments, lead and asbestos
surveys, assisted Park Service representatives
with regulatory agency liaison and remediation
cost estimating, and provided an assessment of
the entire Big Cypress National Preserve - an
area encompassing approximately 750,000 acres
- relative to mineral rights acquisition.
Many areas of the Preserve
are remote and can only be accessed by helicopter
or airboat. A MACTEC Project Engineer accompanied
by a Park Service cartographer, spent many hours
conducting helicopter reconnaissance of the Preserve,
in preparation for report submittal.
To find out more about
the Everglades restoration plan, visit www.evergladesplan.org.
|
