Water is indeed flowing into Brooklyn Lake and has been for about a month. There have been reports of the water level rising in a certain portion of the lake, the northern portion of the lake where Alligator Creek inflows into Brooklyn. According to the January issue of the Lake Region Monitor, the water is flowing at the rate of 1,700,000 gallons per day. (per SJRWMD flow meter at the Immokalee Road bridge.)

Option #3 pipeline has proven to be successful. Granted this is not a huge amount of water flow, but it is the beginning of what could happen. We still have two more options to be put into play.

Option #5—the pipeline from Lowry Lake to Alligator Creek is the most important option and certainly the one which will give us much more volume of inflow into Alligator Creek.

Also the “peoples choice” “Option #7, created by the Keystone Heights Stakeholders Group, is the next option which is soon to be a reality. This option will deliver some of DuPont’s discharge water into the “old mined area” which is now the rainfall reservoir for the Option #3 pipeline. This should help to some degree, by putting additional water into the reservoir.

Now for those of you who were expecting a large surge of water to flow into the lake and fill it up, as happened in 1998, as I have stated in the past, there would not be any huge flow or surge of water flowing into Brooklyn. But for now we have a flow in Alligator Creek (south) and as the rainfall accumulates over the next few months, we could see the flow into Brooklyn Lake increase. The best part of the entire deal is the lakes above Brooklyn are full and therefore the rainfall runoff into Brooklyn will be multiplied as they collect rainfall.

The option #3 pipeline has been completed and has been delivering water into the chain of lakes for nearly 3 months now. As Mr. Schrueder (Schrueder Inc.) determined in his hydrologic report, he determined we could use the old mined area and upper lakes as reservoirs. The outfall structure at the head of the pipeline and the continuous flow of water has proven the Schrueder theory. (the “bathtub” effect of the old mined area)

As stated in Mr. Schrueder report, “Option #3—”Controlled Outlet Southwest Lake and Pipeline to Blue Pond”, “This option would produce an estimated 700 acre feet on an annual basis from the initial release if the outlet were opened once a year”. (the formula for converting acre feet to gallons of water is one acre foot equals 325,851 gallons of water.) If one acre foot equals 325,851 gallons then 700 acre feet would be equivalent to 228,095,700 gallons of water. If you take the flow of water from Alligator Creek (south) into Brooklyn, which was recorded to be at 1,700,000 gallons per day and multiply that by 30 (days) you come up with 51,000,000 gallons of water delivered into Brooklyn so far. That is approximately a quarter of the amount estimated the pipeline was said to be able to produce annually, and we are only one month into the running of water into Brooklyn due to the outfall from the pipeline into Blue Pond. This is in deed a good start.

Mind you, if we can keep the flow of Alligator Creek going into Brooklyn; when we start getting our regular rainfall again we could see an increase in the amount of flow into the lake. This is all due to fact that the upper lakes will serve as rainfall reservoirs and deliver some of the rainfall runoff down Alligator Creek. The trick will be to keep Alligator Creek flowing into Brooklyn.

This is all great news, (and I hate to sound redundant ) but we are not finished yet. We still have some more work to be done with the other two options. As I have said repeatedly, we need all of the options in play if we are to see the full potential of the enhancement to the flow of Alligator Creek (south).

It is very important we complete all of the projects we have chosen, if we are to see the enhancement of water flow into Alligator Creek.

The water that “Option 7” will deliver into the system will help to replenish the water that is drawn down by the pipeline from the Southwest Quadrant Lake. This option is being currently dealt with and hopefully put into place within the next few months.

Not to sound redundant but it is worth repeating. Option #5 is the option with the “big bang”, which will deliver the most amount of water. But we seem to be having some repercussions and unfortunately this option is still on the drawing table. There is also the problem of funding the project whereas the Clay County Engineering has expressed some doubt as to whether or not the county will be able to fund another pipeline. So we are currently looking into several options with the funding of the Option #5 pipeline.

The way the whole system is designed to work is “Option #7” pipeline will help replenish the water that is drawn down by Option #3 pipeline. Option #3 will help replenish the water that is drawn down by Option #5 pipeline. Option #1 (which has already been completed.) was designed to deliver more water down stream by cleaning out the rim-ditches and the breach, which would also help to replenish some of the water that was drawn down by Option #5. Each option has its purpose and therefore we need to have them all in plain view.

The Keystone Beach Pavilion became an idea back in 1919 and was a reality by 1924. Today it is a historical building and still quite the attraction for many visitors and family outings. (I would be very interested in knowing the actual dates of the construction ground-breaking and its completion. So if anyone knows this information would you please contact me)

June 10, 1919 –

“Lake Geneva in 1919 headlines”.

(The following is a reprint of a story appearing on June 10, 1919, in the Clay County Times.) “There is much doing in Lake Geneva district and the community these days. Besides the big development taking place under the direction of the new Brooklyn Company, which is clearing 400 acres and planting out peaches and pecans, the contemplated improving 3,000 acres, many new arrivals are locating near and on the shores of beautiful Lake Geneva.” “A new company, Wagner and Jenkins, will in a few weeks, begin the construction upon the lake front of a big pavilion for amusements of all kinds, an improvement very much needed in this section and it will be enjoyed by the folks for miles around.” “The plans provide for a building 50 by 75 feet, on the waterfront, with accommodations beneath for housing a fleet of pleasure boats to be operated by the company, and there will also be space to rent to boat owners.”

(Source: Lake Region Monitor, 75th Anniversary Edition, April 13, 2000)

January 28, 2005 -

On Friday, January 28 at 1:00 P.M., the Keystone Heights Stakeholders group will be holding a meeting at the Keystone Heights City Hall, in the conference-room. The Lake Region Council Association urges everyone who is available to attend the meeting. Your feedback is always of benefit to the Stakeholders.

Since the inception of the Stakeholders there has been great strides made in order to help with the situation of our low lake levels. The Lake Region Council Association would like to take a moment to thank each and every one of the Stakeholders for their cooperation and for staying the course to see our dreams come true.

Thank you - Florida Senator Evelyn Lynn, Keystone Heights Mayor Lyndel Hale, Clay County Commissioners and Engineering Dept., Florida’s Army Reserve National Guard Camp Blanding, E.I. Dupont, St. Johns River Water Management District.