Before I begin with my report, I would like to apologize to everyone for not publishing a newsletter last month. I was called out of town on a very serious family emergency and was unable to work on the newsletter for the month of March.

With that said I would like to say how pleased I am that the flow of water is still flowing into Brooklyn Lake via Alligator Creek. That was one of the first things I needed to see when I returned home.

While the flow is still minimal it is better than no flow at all.

The pipeline for Option #3 (Remember this was the pipeline which was placed between the Southwest Quadrant Lake and Blue Pond) has proven to be a blessing. Some felt that the completion of the pipeline and the amount of water flowing from the old mined area would be a one-time deal and not produce much of a flow of water once the Southwest Quadrant Lake was drained dry.

Well according to Keystone Heights Mayor, Mayor Lyndel Hale, the water is still flowing into the control structure of the pipeline at the SW Quadrant Lake. The mayor took a qualified well engineer with him to make a rough estimate of the flow of water going into the pipe. They measured the pipe and the depth of water flowing into the pipe and calculated approximately 500,000 gallons of water a day to be flowing into the pipeline. The pipeline was opened in November of last year after the completion of some test openings of the weir boards which were completed in October, 2004.

Now this is all good, but we are still bickering over the issues with the Option #5 pipeline. (Remember Option #5 is the pipeline which would be placed between Lowry Lake and Magnolia Lake. Actually the pipe would be placed starting at the outfall of Lowry and would run about 800 ft. south where it would tie into Alligator Creek before the creek inflows into Magnolia Lake.)

Because of the issues concerning Option #5 we were forced to begin with Options #1 and #3. Which in reality is backwards according to the way the stakeholders had originally planned. Back in May 2002 when LRCA met with the St. Johns River Water Management District, Clay County officials and State Representative Joe Pickens it was the purpose of all involved to choose which option or options we would prefer to pursue.

If you remember, Schrueder Inc. had done a hydrologic report (“Investigation and Conceptual Design of Options for the Lake Brooklyn Watershed, Clay County, Florida”) . In the report, Peter Schrueder and associates came up with 6 designs of options. After reviewing the options and the possibilities of water flow to our watershed everyone decided on employing a combination options instead of just picking one option.

It was decided that by employing a combination of the options we could better manage the water flow by combing options #5, #3 and #1. The implementation of Option #5 was the option which could produce the most volume water . Option #5 was the placement of a pipeline with a slide gate control outfall. The pipe would be placed at an elevation relevant to 128 ft a.s.l. to Lowry Lake, which would be used to lower the water level of Lowry.

It was estimated in the report if we were to lower Lowry by one foot it could produce about 1200 acre feet of water on an annual basis( 391,021,200 gallons of water) or if we lowered Lowry by three feet it could produce about 3000 acre feet of water ( 977,553,000 gallons of water).

(The formula to convert acre feet to gallons is 1 acre foot = 325,851 gallons)

It was not the intent of the lowering Lowry Lake to be on a permanent basis, but instead with the use of the control structure to only lower it at scheduled times and then close the control valve to allow the water level of Lowry to recover.

Option #3 pipeline, which was completed in October 2004, was estimated to produce about 700 acre feet of water on an annual basis ( 227,565,700 gallons of water).

Option #1, which was completed by the Camp Blanding Florida National Guard in May 2002, was the option that entailed the cleaning of the perimeter levee and ditch around the old DuPont mined area and the dredging out of the breach in the levee system where the head waters of Alligator Creek flow through. The design of this option would help to improve the flow of water out of the old mined area. It was estimated that option #1 could produce about 100 acre feet of water per year ( 32,585,100 gallons of water)

It was felt by everyone at the meeting in 2002 that if we were to implement Option #5, the lowering of Lowry Lake, we would have to have a back-up plan to replenish the draw-down of the lake knowing good and well it could have an impact on the surrounding wetlands to the lake.

Therefore by using Options #1 and #3 we would be able to replace the water that we took from Lowry at a much faster rate rather than waiting for Mother Nature to refill the lake.

But now the fate of Option #5 is questionable. SJRWMD has thrown up a road block with the issue of the wetlands which surround Lowry Lake saying that the draw-down of Lowry will have a negative impact on the wetlands. Although the past drought we experienced over the last six years and the fact that the water level was down three to four feet was an act of nature.

I can not understand how the water management can justify their position of the negative impact the pipeline would have on Lowry when the drought caused a lowering of Lowry for nearly six years?

Plus, now the county is saying they can not fund another pipeline project. Which means if the county won’t fund the pipeline then we don’t have an “applicant” to file for the permit from SJRWMD. And because of the red flag that SJRWMD threw up with the wetlands and the mitigation that would be involved the county is scared to touch the pipeline project.

Without an applicant and funding there will not be a Option #5 pipeline. So why did we spend all the taxpayers money on Option #3 and #1 if we aren’t going to complete the project with Option #5?