Hendry County officials are excited about a local water storage project that just broke ground. The C-43 West Basin Storage Reservoir will help water quality in the Caloosahatchee River and its Estuary. But officials say it will also bring jobs to a county that has the state’s highest unemployment rate.
The C-43 Reservoir will hold up to 55 billion gallons of water in Hendry County. To build it, the South Florida Water Management District will have to hire electricians, concrete workers and other contractors for the next four to six years. Hendry County Commissioner Karson Turner said this project could bring in a couple hundred jobs.
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“We want to be active participants and put people to work and have them gainfully employed," said Turner. "And hopefully, there's gonna be some people that are able to derive skill sets off this project and/or hone more skills and make themselves more attractive to the different industries.”
Turner said he hopes the C-43 Reservoir will bring tens of millions of dollars to Hendry County. And he said he’ll promote job opportunities for this project to local contractors.
