Client
Southwest Florida Water Management District

Palm Beach Aggregates, Inc.
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Location
Loxahatchee, Florida
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Key BCI Staff
Leslie Bromwell, ScD, PE
Carl Christmann, PE
Tolga Ozer, PhD, PE 
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Project Costs
Engineering: $4.5 million
Construction: $100 million
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Start Date
January 2004
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Completion Date
October 2007

Scope

The South Florida Water Management District’s (SFWMD) Loxahatchee Reservoir is a critical component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), and is the first public/private project completed. This 1,000-acre water storage area was created in a former limestone quarry. BCI was retained by Palm Beach Aggregates (PBA) to provide comprehensive design and construction support and serve as the engineer of record.

PBA converted mined rock pits into water storage reservoirs by implementing a dredging program to deepen the excavations to an elevation of –42 ft NAVD. The process required analysis of the materials to be dredged, design of disposal areas for the material and optimization of the process to minimize the amount of fine-grained sediments in the hydraulic fill.

Approximately 35 million cubic yards of material were dredged to create the reservoir. BCI analyzed underwater slopes to minimize long-term erosion during hurricane events, and filled disposal areas in a manner to allow for the construction of a power plant and residential development adjacent to the reservoir.