I have “Good News and Bad News”. First the bad news. On April 26 2005, Keystone Heights Mayor Lyndel Hale and myself had a “one hour appointment” with the Executive Director of the St. Johns River Water Management District, Mr. Kirby Green. Our purpose was to discuss the issues with the change of personnel representing the water management at the monthly Lake Region Stakeholders meetings and the situation with the wetland issues concerning Lowry Lake and Option #5.

Before we started our conversation Mayor Hale asked Mr. Green what he perceived as the problem with our condition of low water levels in Keystone. Mr. Green replied, “it’s a lack of rainfall”. Then Lyndel proceeded to question Kirby why he made the change of personnel? Mr. Green’s response was, lack of progress and my people are getting beat up at the meetings.

Al Canepa, had replaced Hal Wilkening some time back and was doing an excellent job of answering questions and for having the intelligence and knowledge to correctly guide us in the proper direction on any issues that would arise. Mr. Canepa was replaced with Ms. Melinda Granlund, SJRWMD Intergovernmental Coordinator, granted Miss Melinda is very intelligent, but if we came up with any issues that required an expertise answer she would have to go back to the district then report back to us the next meeting.

Now the issue with the Option #5 pipeline, Mr. Green stated this was going to be “problematic”. He doesn’t want to lower Lowry Lake. He also said that the pipeline was not a “doable thing” (meaning it could be done) but he didn’t want to lower Lowry unless it was above it’s normal mean of sea level. (as of 4/24/05 Lowry Lake is at 132.26 ft. a.s.l. From 9/1/99 to 5/4/02 the water level was ranging in the 130 ft a.s.l. From 5/4/02 to 2/22/03 the water level was ranging in the 129 ft. a.s.l..)

Option #7 as of April 5 2005 has been permitted by D.E.P. for E.I. DuPont to redirect a portion of their recycled effluent water to the Southwest Quadrant Lake. The existing recycle pipeline will be tapped into and a pipeline will be constructed to deliver the water into the rim ditch system around the “old mined area”. E.I. DuPont will pay for half of the construction of the pipeline and a grant from SJRWMD governing board will pay for the other half, up to a maximum of $32,000.

The estimated cost of the project is $64,000 dollars. Say what you will about DuPont but David Wright and E.I. DuPont are trying to work with us.

The SJRWMD mission statement reads as follows, “The mission of the St. Johns River Water Management District, “We will ensure the sustainable use and protection of water resources for the benefit of the people of the District and the state of Florida.”

Now for some “Good news”. After our meeting with SJRWMD Mayor Hale and I drove down to the lakebed of Brooklyn Lake in his 4-wheel drive truck. Lyndel wanted to show me something he was excited about.

If you look north from the Brooklyn Bridge on St. Rd. 21 you can see a pond of water that lies behind the YMCA Camp Immokalee and you can see that the water level has come up as the water slowly protrudes into the weedline. But what you don’t see from the bridge are the other bodies of water.

Lyndel showed me the first body of water, another pond and the creek that was flowing from the first pond (Camp Immokalee) to the second pond. Then he drove me a short ways to the south and revealed another pond, also with a creek flowing from the second pond to the third pond. From there Lyndel drove me a little ways further and showed me another pond, again with a creek flowing from the previous pond to it. All in total Lyndel showed me six ponds, all of which had creeks flowing from one to the other.

Prior to our excursion I have to admit as I watched from the bridge and the progress of the water filling up the first pond, I was a little discouraged. It seemed to be taking forever, but after seeing all of the bodies of water that were filling up as a result of the flow from Alligator Creek I was very excited and pleased.

At our last membership meeting the members elected to purchase two banners to be hung at the intersection of St. Rd. 21 and St. Rd. 100. Joey and Patti Tyson volunteered to pay for one of the banners and the other one will be purchased by LRCA. The first banner will say “Thanks to Option #3 pipeline. The water is flowing”. The other banner will say, “Say yes to Option #5 pipeline”. We need to educate the community. Be sure to bring a friend.

It is a well known fact that Brooklyn Lake is a very “leaky” lake. Primarily due to the fact the lake has a sandy bottom. This was obvious when we went through the prior drought and Brooklyn Lake nearly dried up while other lakes, such as Santa Fe Lake only dropped a few feet in depth. There are some people who believe that Brooklyn Lake is a direct vertical “funnel” to the Floridan Aquifer. While others believe that the seepage from the lake contributes more to the groundwater or water table rather than a direct route to the Floridan.

An empirical study was done on the hydraulic seepage of Brooklyn Lake. A study was made by a graduate student, James D. Hirsh, called the "Characterization of Hydraulic Seepage within Brooklyn Lake, Keystone Heights, Florida." It was an abstract thesis presented to the University of Florida as part of his fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. This study was to determine the variations in hydraulic seepage within the lake. The method that was used was the seepage meter method, which utilizes a 55-gallon drum and a plastic bag filled with a predetermined volume of water. The drum was used to calculate a seepage velocity or a seepage value. Seepage was measured within littoral and non-littoral parts of the lake. Mr. Hirsh actually scuba dived into the lake placing the drums in strategic locations. Also lake-bottom core samples were taken and analyzed to estimate the permeability of different areas of the lake. The conclusion of the study, using the seepage meter method, according to the average seepage meter measurements, approximately 81 percent of all seepage outflow measured during the study occurred within shallow littoral (the shore or beach) sections of the lake. Where as only 19 percent of seepage occurred in the non-littoral areas. (the lake bottom)

“Direct measurement of seepage using the seepage meter method has been shown to be an accurate method of measuring the magnitude and distribution of seepage inflow or outflow within a lake.” (Boyle 1994)”

Keystone Heights Mayor Lyndel Hale and the cities Attorney Mr. Robert Bradley have come up with a new idea, creating our own taxation district which would incorporate our lake region area to help funding for water projects such as Option #5. Not to be confused with a “new” water management district. The tax monies that would be collected would help to fund projects that would benefit our lakes in and around Keystone Heights. So you say, “well I don’t live on a lake and therefore I don’t want to pay taxes on something that won’t benefit me”. Well remember, most our lakes are a reflection of the water table and that means if the lakes are up then the water table is up as well. Many of us had to replace our wells with new wells because the water table had dropped and our wells dried up or were pumping effluent water into our homes. So think about it. Maybe you are a fisherman (or fisherwoman) or a boating enthusiast. When the lakes were up they drew a great deal of revenue to our community providing all sorts of recreation for people from many regions of the country. LRCA will be discussing the proposal at our next meeting. Because this issue is only in a preliminary stage we encourage ALL members and non-members to be present at this meeting because we need your feedback as to whether or not this idea is a feasible or a doable concept.