Hello to my fellow Floridians,
This month has really flown by and we are already in August. I don't know about you but I'm ready for football season, go KHHS Indians And Gator's! Our Prayers have been answered and I have been thanking God for the good rain we have been getting lately.
I want to let everybody know that we have a couple special visitors that I have invited to our next meeting Monday night the 13th of August 2007 at 7:00 PM . Clay County Commissioner Chereese Stewart and St. Johns River Keeper Neil Armegion. Neil will be giving a report on the St. Johns River and how south Florida plans on taking more water from the Floridian aquifer.
We have also formed a committee to plan a Saturday luncheon on Saturday the 20th of Oct. 2007. I hope this will be a good time for many! Johnny Mason of Johhny’s Bar-B-Q will be doing the catering for us! Thank you Johnny we appreciate you very much. We will also be having a Drawing for door prizes donated by our local business's. We will be inviting Federal, State and County elected officials and Agencies. I hope they all see the importance in coming and hearing our county and State of Florida Water problems and Solutions we think can help. You also have a voice and can help get them here by making phone calls, Email, and write letters asking them to attend. This will be a very informative meeting with a power point presentation of possible options that can help our area and the State. Local Businesses are also welcome we need you, I don't know about you but my business can tell the economy has slowed considerably compared to last year.
We constantly hear the question “where is the water going?” We are seeing the rainfall but our lakes continue to decline. If we can find a way to make our lakes more stable this is our desire. We would certainly have the most pristine and best white sand bottom lakes in Florida. I also believe this would help our economy in the long term.
If you would like to join our group and help on a Committee please call me at 352-473-7530. We have a lot going on and we want to share our hopes and dreams with you. Dreams can come true, by Praying and working together. All things are possible through Christ Jesus.
Thank you for your support and Prayers,
God Bless you all.
Lyndel Hale

You have been hearing from President Lyndel Hale about the new concept of delivering effluent water by pipeline to our water shed for quite some time now. This idea came from hydrologist Peter Schreuder as one of his concepts to improve the volume of water to our area lakes. This concept or idea would also conceivably by natural hydrology put more water back into the aquifer system through the natural recharge formation for future use, (rather than dumping it into the ocean.)
As we have spoken redundantly about our area being a natural recharge area to the aquifer system, therefore any water we would bring into this area would naturally seep down into the groundwater below. According to Peter we have the perfect natural filtration system already in place…the “DuPonts old mined area” on top of Trail Ridge.
This concept made sound ludicrous to some. The cost is with out a doubt a major consideration. Granted there would have to be a pipeline system installed from the area which was chosen to pump that “reused water” (Peter likes to refer to the water as reused) to the “old mined area”.
The D.E.P. and water management district is currently considering proposals to stiffen the regulations of purifying the effluent water and then “pipe” the water to other areas for irrigation systems. There are projects researched by the water management districts to pump water by pipelines from North Florida to South Florida and from what I hear this idea is still being considered. (Now that sounds ludicrous to me) So why would the concept pf a pipeline from Jacksonville to Camp Blanding be any different? We are talking about our future water resources.
What you need to realize is a large volume of this “reused water” originally came from the aquifer to begin with and then it is discharged into the St. Johns River only to flow out to the ocean. Where is the logic in that? The water management district has already admitted that we are going to be in serious trouble in the near future with the population growth and water resources to accommodate the growth. So why not put that water back into the aquifer instead of dumping it into the ocean?
Mark my words people in a few decades water is going to be a serious commodity and there is going to be a major shortage.
I also want to make mention that LRCA has not given up on the option known as the Option #5 pipeline. Some of you have asked about the progress and where we were standing on the employment of Option #5. We are still going to pursue the option as we have done in the past. Peter has repeatedly said that this is a doable option and has continued to support it. When we met with the water management district a month a so ago he was on conference call with us during the meeting and brought the idea up again to the staff saying that the water management district needs to reconsider establishing new minimum low and high water levels for Lowry Lake and Magnolia Lake.
Mr. Schreuder as well as LRCA are still convinced that this option can play a vital role and we will continue to keep that option on the table. We are still looking for the funding to do the study. Florida Representative Joe Pickens has said that he would continue to look for help to receive the funds. He intends to speak with the water management district. We are very fortunate to have had Representative Pickens support for “Save Our Lakes” endeavors the past six years.
I don’t want to leave out the fact that in the past we have also had support from Florida Senator Evelyn Lynn. If it were not for her the Option #3 pipeline that was installed by Clay County may not be here today. She was very instrumental in getting the St Johns River Water Management District governing board to approve the permit.
We also have to thank our very own Keystone Heights City Council. They have recently formed a committee “Environmental Issues”, which one of their concerns is focusing on the lake level issues. Thanks everyone.


Did You Know?
Did you know there is a “Dead Zone”? (I am not referring to the television series.) Sometimes we come across some rather peculiar articles that we find are interesting bits of news. Just recently we came across an article titled “Gulf of Mexico “Dead Zone” Could Expand”, by Deborah Zabarenko, Rueters. After reading the article we were reminded of possibly a some what similar situation involving our own St. Johns River.
The article mentioned makes reference to the Mississippi River and its discharge into the Gulf of Mexico. It appears the effluent water that is discharged from the many cities and the runoff from farm lands into the Mississippi River has created an area of “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
As quoted from the article, “The Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone” - a swath of water with such low levels of oxygen that marine life can be threatened or killed—could be the largest since measurements began in 1985, scientists said on Tuesday (July 17). This year’s expected dead zone off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas may be due to more intensive farming, including crops that produce biofuels, on more land. These chemicals also come from wastewater plants and pollution that gets into rain water. (Doesn’t this sound like the commercials on T.V.?) “This area is of particular concern because of its potential to affect the valuable Gulf fishery,” NOAA says. “This year’s dead zone could stretch to about the size of New Jersey and exceed the record largest zone of 2002 according to NOAA. The dead zone, which recurs each year off the Texas and Louisiana coasts, could stretch to more than 8,500 square miles this year—about the size of New Jersey—compared with 6,662 square miles in 2006 and nearly double the annual average since 1990 of 4,800 square miles. Scientists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University forecast the expanded dead zone in a statement. The dead zone is fed by melted snow and spring flooding along the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers, carrying farm chemicals and other runoff into the Gulf of Mexico, the scientists said. Substances in this runoff include the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, which can stimulate the growth of algae. These algae settle and decay in the bottom waters of the Gulf, and the bacteria that decompose them gobble oxygen faster than it can be replenished from the surface, which means lower levels of dissolved oxygen in the water. “This hypoxic area is of particular concern because of its potential to affect the valuable Gulf Fishery,” NOAA said in a statement. The dead zone starts to form in the spring and usually reaches its peak by the end of July or early August, said David Whitall, a coastal ecologist with NOAA who worked on the prediction. A research ship will survey the area to measure the zone by July’s end, Whitall said in a telephone interview. In 2002, the dead zone stretched in a wide band for 8,495 square miles from the waters off New Orleans to the central Texas coast. This year’s expected large dead zone may be due to more intensive farming, including crops that produce biofuels, on more land. While agriculture is the main source of the chemicals that contribute to the dead zone, these substances also come from wastewater treatment plants and pollution that gets into rain water, Whitall said.”
In another article which also is related to the story it spoke of how the oxygen poor water effected the creatures usually found on the bottom of the ocean. “Crabs, eels and other creatures usually found on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico are swimming in crowds on the surface because there is too little oxygen in their usual habitat, said Nancy Rabalais, chief scientist for the northern Gulf hypoxia studies. “we very often see swarms of crabs, mostly blue crabs and their close relatives, swimming at the surface when the oxygen is low,” she wrote in an email from a research ship as it returned to Crocodrie from its annual measurement trip. “Eels which live in sediments 60 to 70 feet below the water surface are an even less common sight, she said. The 7,900 square mile area with almost no oxygen, a condition called hypoxia, is about the size of Connecticut and Delaware together.”
An organization known as the St. Johns
Riverkeeper organization has been looking at the effluent water being discharged into the St. Johns River and has discovered some alarming facts concerning the ecological condition and state of the rivers water. The ph levels of the river are not healthy for wildlife habitat or aquatic wetlands.
This is disturbing news since we already are being informed by commercials on television that the St. Johns River water has undergone some serious transformation due to the effluent water being discharged into the river. Almost everyone last year has seen the news where the surface of the river had turned green with algae. Could we be creating another “dead zone” in the Atlantic Ocean?