A pumping station will soon be built and will allow the polluted water to be diverted. Mayor Levine Cava says it’s crucial for the environment and the economy.
It’s been at least 20 years of waiting, but today Miami-Dade County leaders were present at the groundbreaking ceremony for a pumping station in Cutler Bay.
It was the final and largest piece of the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Project.
Charlie Martinez, board member for the South Florida Water Management District, said without this plan, Biscayne Bay and our economy would be in trouble.
“If we don’t have Biscayne Bay, the economy of Dade County collapses, it’s very important that we can get Biscayne Bay back to where it was,” Martinez said.
According to Martínez, the project is costing nearly $400 million out of taxpayers’ pockets over a 13-year period.
Meanwhile, Mayor Daniela Levine Cava says this project will help reverse the mistakes of years past.
“It will restore the berry, the amount of salty and sweet, the association it brings,” says Levine Cava.
This soon to be constructed pumping station will operate in conjunction with a station already in operation in the area.
The pumps will redirect water to 1,700 acres of wetlands to the north, where Mother Nature can naturally clean the water before it returns to Biscayne Bay.
County officials say it’s the only way to bring the bay back to life.
“There is still more and we have to move on because the decisions of the past are causing a lot of damage to our community,” says the mayor.
We know that the Army Corps of Engineers is building additional pumping stations to benefit Biscayne Bay. The project that started today will be the largest and will be completed in 2025.