About $2.51B for an Everglades reservoir embankment and structures — the only environmental work among the 207 Department of Defense contracts this site holds as of 2026-08-31 (Thalle Construction, Army)

1Moving wetland water on a military budget

The US Army includes a corps of engineers responsible for rivers, harbours and flood control. Beyond building military facilities, domestic public works involving water fall to the same organization. The Everglades is a wetland across southern Florida whose flows have been altered by agricultural and urban development. This contract belongs to a plan to reorder those flows, building a reservoir embankment and structures. Work that is neither equipment nor logistics appears inside defense spending data.

2What a reservoir does here

The A-2 reservoir named in the description sits in the Everglades Agricultural Area. Its role is to hold surplus water in the wet season and release it in the dry season, regulating how much water reaches the wetland and when. Embankment and structures means the earthworks that hold water and the gates and channels that control its volume.

Work of this kind is described as restoring nature, yet what actually gets built is large civil infrastructure. The period of more than ten years reads as the time needed to build structures at that scale.

3One of 207 records touches the environment

Sorting the 207 Department of Defense contracts this site holds as of 2026-08-31 by the wording of their descriptions, exactly one touches a reservoir, an embankment, the Everglades or the environment.

Awarding offices divide into six internal Defense organizations: the Department of the Navy at 77, the Defense Contract Management Agency at 43, the Department of the Army at 40, the Department of the Air Force at 31, the Defense Health Agency at 9 and the Missile Defense Agency at 7.

Flood control work appearing inside data gathered as defense spending follows from the corps of engineers holding both, showing how departmental boundaries fail to match the character of the work.

4A reservoir adjusts how much water arrives and when

The A-2 reservoir named in the description sits in the Everglades Agricultural Area. The work is spoken of as restoring nature, and what is actually built is large-scale civil infrastructure.

1. 1Wet seasonWater in surplus is stored
2. 2Embankments and structuresThe bank that holds the water, and the gates and channels that control the flow, are built
3. 3Dry seasonThe stored water is released
4. 4To the wetlandHow much water arrives, and when, is adjusted

The US Army has a Corps of Engineers carrying river, harbour and flood-control work. Alongside building military facilities, domestic public works touching water sit under the same organisation.

Classifying the descriptions of the 207 Department of Defense contracts this site holds as of 2026-08-31, this is the only one touching a reservoir, an embankment, the Everglades or the environment — a case where the boundary of a department and the character of the work do not line up.