“As seen in the photo above the water is slowly approaching the boat ramp. The public boat ramp and picnic park area are located off Hwy. 100 near McDonalds on King St. The Brooklyn Lake Public Boat Ramp is in need of repair due to erosion, but the county is hesitant in making the repairs due to fact that Brooklyn Lake is historically noted for fluctuating water levels. The ramp consists of concrete blocks similar to what railroad ties look like. Apparently the county believes that Brooklyn Lake will not recover. It would seem that now would be the ideal time to make the repairs while the water level is down and access to repair the ramp would be quite easy. The boat ramp is the only public access to the lake as well as the residents who live on Brooklyn whom do not have a boat ramp for launching their boats. Once the water does reach the ramp to the point that launching a boat is possible this would help bring back some of the weekend recreation boaters and improve the economy to local businesses. So why the reluctance to repair the boat ramp? Are they skeptical that the lake will never recover?”

Rainfall is now the most important factor to our lake system. I know we have wished for the rain and we have benefited from the rainfall from the outer bands of the previous hurricanes, but it saddens my heart to see the devastation that Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita has had on the gulf coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. I am reminded of the old saying, “be careful what you wish for.” Our thoughts and prayers go out to those victims while they recover from these horrendous acts of Mother Nature.

While it is not necessary for the rain to fall directly on your particular lake in order for it to increase the lakes water level, the rainfall will seep into the ground and increase the groundwater level of the water table, which ultimately will be reflected by the level of the lake.

What I have seen so far, the water table on White Sands Lake has held its level even during the periods of extremely high temperatures without any significant decline in the water level in fact it has rose 2 1/2 inches.

Not only has the water table level increased but the Potentiometric surface has also increased. So you may ask, “what is a potentiometric surface?” The best way that I could describe this is, suppose you were to take a balloon and blow some air into it. This balloon will represent the potentiometric pressure. Now place some water into that balloon and you will notice the balloon increases in size. The aquifer is much like the balloon, it is within a confined space. The potentiometric surface is the upward pressure, which is applied as the volume of water increases in the aquifer system. When you have areas such ours where the soils consist of primarily sand and very thin layers of clay or limestone you will also have air. Therefore as you fill the balloon with water the air expands the pressure inside of the balloon and so the same principle applies with the potentiometric surface.

The St. Johns River Water Management District told us a few years back that the level of the potentiometric surface had dropped about ten feet. The good news is, according to SJRWMD recent hydrological data the potentiometric surface has increased in height from 4 to 8 feet higher in our area. Ironically when you look at the map which shows the areas of increase to the potentiometric surface you will notice the area to be the same area as the Trail Ridge.

(Please note the “Did You Know” article)

At the last membership meeting (Sept. 12th.) the membership decided and voted to send a contribution of $700.00 to the victims of the Hurricane Katrina relief disaster fund of the Salvation Army. It was felt by all whom were present that LRCA had been blessed by generous donations from several of our members and that we would like to share those blessings with the victims of the catastrophic disaster left by Hurricane Katrina.

It was also decided and voted on by those present while Keystone Heights Mayor Hale will host a “Celebration Tour” of the progress and completion of the enhancement options to Alligator Creek for the representatives of the Keystone Heights Stakeholders group, LRCA would sponsor the luncheon, which will follow the tour. The tour will consist of going into Camp Blanding to observe the Option #7 and #3 pipelines. The luncheon will be catered by Johnnies BBQ at the Keystone Heights City Hall. It was felt this would be LRCA’s way of saying thanks to all of the stakeholders for their cooperation and help in the past years.

Because we do operate on a very low income and budget we are looking and hoping for new membership and contributions.

Leslye Stephenson was elected to be the Chairperson. The steering committee had its first meeting Oct. 1. As proposed by Chairperson Stephenson the mission of the committee is, “develop a straw man proposal which will outline the purpose, costs, benefits and implication of a “Special Tax District” on the tax contributing population in order to test the feasibility of its acceptance.” Some of the tasks of the steering committee will be to establish a boundary for the district and to poll the population within the district to determine whether or the property owners are agreeable with creating a new special district.

We have made reference on many occasions that our lake region area is a recharge area to the aquifer system. This makes our hydrologic system and the profile of the many lakes in our area very unique. What makes the area potentially a “recharge area” is the fact the geology of the soil is very sandy and the very thin or lack of the underlying layers of limestone and clay.

According to a chart published in 1980 by Geological Survey of Florida, Bureau of Geology, Bureau of Water Resources Management, Florida is made up of four types of potential for natural recharge areas. The first of the four areas is “Areas of High Recharge”, second is “Areas of Very Low to Moderate Recharge”, third is “Areas of Known Very Low Recharge”, and fourth being “Areas of Generally No Recharge”.

Keystone Heights lies with in an area known as a high recharge area. According to the chart “The areas of high recharge represent about 15 percent of the state and in these areas recharge rates are estimated to range from 10 inches to 20 inches per year.” Also it should be noted that the aquifer system in this area consists of three types of combined aquifers. The most commonly known aquifer is the “Floridan Aquifer” which is the lowest underlying aquifer and covers the entire state of Florida and portions of southern Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. The next upper aquifer is the Intermediate Aquifer and as you near the surface you have the Surficial Aquifer. This is where a majority of our springs come from, the Surficial Aquifer.

The volume of water in these aquifers creates what is known as the “Potentiometric Surface”, which is simply the upward pressure applied by the volume of water in a confined space. With the lake region area being made up of very permeable sandy soil this has caused the potentiometric surface in this area to have a high peak in the potentiometric upward pressure. (some-times referred to as upward leakage).

Now my point is, some people have questioned why LRCA has concentrated their efforts on just Brooklyn Lake and have commented “what about my lake?” Brooklyn Lake sets at a higher elevation than most of the lakes in the area and therefore as Brooklyn fills up and leaks out into the water table it will have a gradual impact on the water table of the nearby surrounding lakes as well.
Remember what you just learned about the potentiometric surface and the “upward pressure” it applies. This is also creating resistance to the downward leakage or seepage, and water will always take the flow of path with the least resistance and therefore it will also flow laterally as well as vertically. This effect was witnessed in 1998 when Brooklyn was filling up after the completion of the work done to Alligator Creek and the impact it made on other lakes.

The Lake Region Council Association is proud to announce that one of our members has announced he will be running for District 4 Clay County Commissioner. Lyndel Hale who is one of LRCA’s most active members and has been responsible for expediting projects to enhance the water flow to Alligator Creek and restore the flow back to Brooklyn Lake. By being the County Commissioner for District 4 this will allow him to oversee any current issues with the low lake levels in our area. Lyndel has spent many long hours on the issues concerning the low water levels of our lakes, keeping his campaign promise before he was elected the Mayor of Keystone Heights. With his diligence and persistence he has established a good report with state, county and local officials and would be quite capable of establishing a good working relationship with our government officials. Ironically once Lyndel acquired the position of Keystone Heights Mayor the projects that LRCA had been working on for some time soon began to make headway.