WASHINGTON — Nine Everglades restoration projects received a $20 million boost this week from a congressional panel.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee agreed Wednesday to authorize $95 million for nine "critical restoration projects" associated with the $8.4 billion Everglades restoration. Individual projects, which had been limited to $25 million, would be capped at $30 million.

The action came as the committee adopted the Water Resources Development Act, which still faces a vote in the House and Senate.

The critical restoration projects are equally funded by the federal government and state agencies. Seven of the projects are sponsored locally by the South Florida Water Management District. The Florida Department of Community Affairs is sponsoring a $6 million study on the viability of the ecosystem in the Florida Keys, and the Seminole Indians are sponsoring a $50 million project to restructure the canal system on the Big Cypress Reservation.

The seven water management district projects are the Ten Mile Creek reservoir; the Lake Okeechobee water retention project; the Canal 11 water quality improvement project in Broward County; the Lee County Southern Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed project; the Western Canal 4 water control structure; the Western Tamiami Trail Culvert; and the Lake Trafford restoration project.

A $9 million project to replace the bulkhead around the Lake Worth Lagoon in West Palm Beach was also approved.

Paul Warner, lead ecosystem restoration representative of the water district, said the benefits of the current projects are better water quality and ecosystem restoration, including the ability of the Everglades to retain water for a longer period of the year.