FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 28, 2012
DEP SECRETARY TOURS KINGS BAY, DISCUSSES FUNDING AND RESTORATION EFFORTS
~Cooperation, sense of urgency in identifying solutions leads to swifter restoration~
CRYSTAL RIVER – Today,
Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard
Jr. joined Senator Charlie Dean and local officials to tour Crystal River and
its network of 30 springs feeding Kings Bay, which is currently the focus of
serious state and local environmental action.
The
trip follows last week’s announcement that the Department is committing more
than $1.1 million to a reuse project for the City of Crystal River that will
reduce nitrate pollutant loadings in the area by 16 percent. The project,
jointly funded with the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the
City, will send 750,000 gallons of highly treated reclaimed water every day
from the Crystal River wastewater plant to the Progress Energy Citrus County
Power Complex.
The
District will be investing $1.4 million in the reuse project and the funding
from the Department will allow the District to invest an additional $1.1
million in other water quality projects that will benefit Kings Bay. More than just improving water quality, the project will
increase springflow into Kings Bay by reducing groundwater pumping at the
power complex.
“In
the last two years, with support from Governor Scott, Senator Dean and the rest
of the Florida Legislature, the Department will have directed $11.5 million to
restoring Florida’s springs - more than double the spending in the previous
three years,” said Secretary Vinyard. “We
are aggressively identifying Florida’s water quality problems and working with
our state and local partners to solve them, achieving measurable ecological
progress through critical restoration projects.”
Kings
Bay has a history of water quality problems, including poor water clarity, destruction
of native aquatic vegetation and nuisance algae. To address those issues, the reduction
targets, or total maximum daily loads, for Kings Bay and the other Springs
Coast spring-related waters that are impaired by nutrients will be adopted in
2013. The restoration needs for Kings
Bay are well known, but the specific nutrient threshold must still be
established. Cleaning up Kings Bay requires concerted, cooperative action.
"Successfully
addressing pollution in springs, and all of the state’s waterbodies, requires
cooperation and partnerships between the Department, the Legislature and public
and private stakeholders. It also takes applying and committing monies
allocated by the Legislature to meaningful projects to restore and protect our
waterbodies such as we are seeing with Kings Bay," said Senator Charlie
Dean. "I applaud the Department’s and the Water Management District’s
leadership, as well as the efforts of the local governments and stakeholders of
this basin. Efforts such as this serve as a great
model for other communities in the state.”
The Southwest
Florida Water Management District has already been working with a group of
Kings Bay stakeholders for several years and some major restoration actions to
reduce nutrients to the bay have been implemented or soon will be
implemented. It is anticipated that additional
restoration projects will be identified as the formal restoration plan is
finalized.
Projects
currently underway include:
- The
Three Sisters Stormwater Treatment Wetland, fully funded by the SWFWMD, will
intercept and treat stormwater discharged directly into the King’s Bay canal
system. The project will remove
nutrients, suspended solids and other contaminants within stormwater from 135
acres of commercial and residential land in Crystal River.
- The
Hunter Springs Water Quality Improvement Project, jointly funded by the SWFWMD
and Citrus County, will expand an existing stormwater pond and remove
accumulated sediment adjacent to the outfall. The project will expand stormwater treatment
capacity by 40 percent and significantly reduce nutrients.
- The
Kings Bay Park Lagoon Restoration, another joint SWFWMD - Citrus County
project, will remove loose rock fragments and organic materials from King’s Bay
Park and revegetate the area with native submerged and emergent plant species. A manatee exclusion zone will be maintained
for two years to ensure survival and colonization of the lagoon by the restored
vegetation.
| 
