The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is the framework to restore the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. As part of CERP, the EAA Reservoir Project was authorized by WRDA 2018 as a multi-purpose reservoir. It will store regulatory releases from Lake Okeechobee and EAA basin runoff, thereby substantially decreasing the frequency and intensity of harmful discharges to the Northern Estuaries. The EAA Reservoir Project will also deliver an average annual flow of 370,000 acre-feet above the existing flows to the central Everglades, benefiting fish and wildlife. It will also enhance regional water supplies for existing legal users, which will increase the water available to meet environmental needs. The proposed water reservation rule will protect the water needed for fish and wildlife as required by CERP. Section 601 of WRDA 2000 requires the State to protect water made available for the natural system by CERP projects from allocation to consumptive uses. Legal protection of the water is required before the South Florida Water Management District (District) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) may execute a Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) to cost-share the construction of CERP project features. The District is fulfilling these requirements by adopting rules reserving the water released from the EAA Reservoir Project to the central Everglades. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss the draft rule text and supporting technical document, which identifies the water needed for the protection of fish and wildlife.