Caulkins Water Farm

A public/private partnership with real environmental benefits.real environmental benefits.

What is a Water Farm?An enhanced water capture and storage system

How does it work?How does it work?We pump water from the C‐44 Canal into the Farm

Where does the water in the Farm go? The water goes up 

( )into the atmosphere (known as evapotranspiration) or down into the water table (infiltration)

Any other benefits?Any phosphorus and nitrogen in the water is kept on‐site, 

reducing pollution and algae blooms

Why at Caulkins?LOCATION LOCATION LOCATIONLOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Located within the 937 square mile

St. Lucie River 

WatershedWatershed

More specifically, within the 182 square mile 

C 44 Drainage Basin

Did k

C‐44 Drainage Basin

Did you know:

of water discharged through the72%

of water discharged through the locks comes from the 

C-44 Drainage Basin

Damaging Discharges:> 2,000 cfs = stress to ecosystem

3 000 f d>3,000 cfs = severe damage

200,000 acre‐feet of storage is needed tois needed to 

reduce damaging discharges significantly

Why at Caulkins?LOCATION, LOCATIONLOCATION, LOCATION

Located adjacent to the C‐44 Canal

Existing infrastructure in place –l d i icanal and pump station connecting 

to C‐44 + miles of internal canals

Sandy soil

Extremely successful pilot project –Anticipated Yearly Storage = 

6,780 ac‐ftWater stored in Farm in first year = 

11 974 ac ft11,974 ac‐ftWater stored including internal 

canals = 17,666 ac‐ft

Expansion possible i hiwithin a year

If expanded, potential to hold up to 85,000 ac‐ft  or more per year

The benefit of private sector pinvolvement…

B t ti i S t bBegan construction in September 2013

1 Year Given 1 Year to Complete

Construction complete in 16weeks

What have we done so far?What have we done so far?

Since February 2014 we have:

Stored over 26,000 acre-ft of water

That equates to over 8.5 billion gallons

Stored 20 metric tons of Nitrogen and 5 metric

tons of Phosphorus within the farmtons of Phosphorus within the farm

Questions / Comments??