Published Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026
South Florida residents have until 11:59 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2 to comment on how the Everglades Agricultural Area A-2 Reservoir should be operated during its initial filling.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville District is accepting comments as part of a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis. The agency says the work is intended to establish operating criteria and ensure dam-safety requirements are met as the reservoir fills for the first time. Comments must be emailed to CESAJEAAReservoir@usace.army.mil.
A key clarification: the deadline is not a date for water to begin flowing into the reservoir. The Corps says comments will inform development of its initial-fill plan; its Oct. 5 announcement said Phase 1 planning and NEPA analysis were targeted for approval in late 2027. The public window closing tomorrow is a chance to weigh in before that work proceeds.
What the Corps is asking the public to address
The current review covers Phase 1 initial-fill operations. According to the Corps, its central purpose is to develop operating criteria and meet dam-safety requirements for the reservoir’s first filling. People submitting comments can identify issues or concerns they believe should be evaluated in that process.
The Corps says it will summarize the submissions and use them to inform the proposed initial-fill plan. For the agency’s project information and environmental materials, visit the EAA Reservoir project page and the Jacksonville District environmental documents page. The Oct. 5 notice was also published by Lake Okeechobee News.
This is a narrower process than a regional decision about how much water will move through the entire Everglades system. In its notice, the Corps describes a separate Phase 2 study that may consider broader regional operations. The current deadline is about the reservoir’s initial-fill operations, not a final systemwide water-allocation plan.
Construction at the reservoir site, shown in earlier South Florida Digest coverage. The Nov. 2 comment deadline concerns planning for initial-fill operations, not the start of filling.
Where the reservoir fits in Everglades restoration
The A-2 Reservoir is part of the Everglades Agricultural Area component of the Central Everglades Planning Project, or CEPP. The Corps describes the project as a 10,500-acre reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County, with planned storage capacity of about 240,000 acre-feet.
As described by the Corps, the reservoir is designed to capture, store and treat Lake Okeechobee water in conjunction with the A-2 Stormwater Treatment Area and existing state treatment areas. The system is intended to route water south toward the Water Conservation Areas, Everglades National Park and Florida Bay, while also helping reduce undesirable discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries.
Those are the project’s stated purposes, not a guarantee about when or how much water will reach any particular area. Initial-fill criteria matter because they will guide the first filling of a large piece of Everglades restoration infrastructure, while broader operating questions are handled through other processes.
Readers looking for background on the previous public checkpoint can revisit South Florida Digest’s Oct. 26 Everglades restoration report. This deadline-day update focuses specifically on the closing comment window and what the Corps says it covers.
The water conditions behind the deadline
The comment period closes as the dry season begins and agencies report stress in parts of the greater Everglades system. That context is relevant to ongoing public attention to storage and southward water movement, but it does not determine the outcome of the initial-fill analysis or mean filling will begin immediately.
The Corps’ Nov. 1 Lake Okeechobee daily report listed the lake at 12.77 feet NGVD29. The report’s data run through Oct. 31 and are preliminary, subject to revision.
A separate South Florida Water Management District weekly report dated Oct. 28 listed Lake Okeechobee at 12.52 feet NGVD29 on Oct. 25. These are not conflicting same-day readings: they refer to different dates and reporting periods. The SFWMD report also lists the Oct. 25 measurement as 11.21 feet NAVD88, with its NGVD29 equivalent provided.
An Everglades wetland landscape. The SFWMD’s Oct. 28 report said most of the south-central Everglades and Everglades National Park remained below the 20th percentile for water depth for that time of year.
The SFWMD’s Oct. 28 weekly environmental conditions report also reported an average Florida Bay salinity reading of 38.5-15.2 above the recent seasonal average. The district said salinity was above the estimated historical average and above the 2001–2016 interquartile-range 75th percentile in all regions. Central and western Florida Bay were above the hypersalinity threshold; the eastern region was below it.
The same report said most of the south-central Everglades and Everglades National Park remained below the 20th percentile for water depth. It noted that prolonged low water can carry ecological risks, including increased wildfire risk and potential harm to wetland habitat. These readings describe conditions in particular places and reporting periods; they do not show that the reservoir’s initial-fill process will resolve them.
Florida Bay is part of the southern Everglades system. The SFWMD report documented elevated salinity across the bay, with central and western areas above the hypersalinity threshold.
How to submit a comment before the window closes
Send comments electronically to CESAJEAAReservoir@usace.army.mil by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Monday, Nov. 2. The Corps’ notice asks interested parties to comment on the proposed Phase 1 initial-fill operations and identify issues or concerns for evaluation.
For the most useful submission, be specific about the operating criteria or dam-safety questions you want the Corps to consider, and identify any supporting information relevant to the initial filling. The agency says comments will be summarized and used to inform its proposed plan.
For readers tracking another Everglades-area public process, the Big Cypress off-road-vehicle comment docket NPS-2026-0199 remains open until Dec. 1; see South Florida Digest’s Oct. 31 Big Cypress report.
Tomorrow is the last day to put views on the A-2 Reservoir’s initial-fill operations into the Corps’ record. The deadline is close; the start of filling is not.
