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Highlands Today

Advance Planning Helps Spring Lake Avoid Flooding

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Joe DeCerbo watches as Bill Maine pumps water from the canals from Spring Lake to Lake Istokpoga.

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: September 13, 2007

SEBRING — This year, Spring Lake is ahead of the game.

Instead of flooding around the golf resort, the improvement district rented pumps to lower the canals behind homes.

"We've been proactive rather than reactive," said Joe DeCerbo, district manager. "We're trying to avoid pumping when it floods."

Last year, after Hurricane Ernesto inundated canals, hundreds of dead fish – some floating, some beached – baked in the sun and became snacks for scores of buzzards. Flood water surrounded the golf course, closing the roads that lead to Spring Lake Golf Resort, and flowing over septic tanks.

This year, after heavy rains in July, the canals rose again but didn't flood, DeCerbo said.

DeCerbo called Highlands County Administrator Carl Cool and officials at the South Florida Water Management District, who approved pumping the canal water across the land of Father Robert Graves and into Lake Istokpoga.

"We were trying to avoid pumping when it's flooding," DeCerbo said. "So we pumped down the water in the canals. And so far, we've been able to maintain those levels. We've got another month, knock on wood, before the rainy season is over."

County Lakes Manager Clell Ford helped plan the pumping and monitoring process.

"You know you're going to have to pump water," Ford said. The question was when.

"Do you wait until the water is stagnant, or do you pump it earlier, and move it into Istokpoga pretty much as rain water?" Ford asked.

In addition to the environmental impact, Ford said pumping beforehand is cheaper than pumping out floodwaters.

"We're pumping 90 minutes a day, about 15 minutes per hour for six hours," DeCerbo said.

On Oct. 12, the rental contract with Holland Pump Co. on the two pumps expires, DeCerbo said. The cost is $7,500 per month, but last year, Spring Lake employees spent months in the cleanup. They even had to get tetanus shots.

"The dead fish, the fecal matter, people were 100 percent right, it was horrible," DeCerbo said.

Michael Tellshow, who owns Spring Lake Golf Resort, laid off two-thirds of his 100 employees for a month. Water flowed over the bridges on some holes, and covered 60 percent of others.

Tellshow figured he lost $200,000 in income and new landscaping.

The Future

DeCerbo said future plans have to include a real solution, not a fix.

"The Graves family has been extremely gracious for years now, but this is coming to a halt," DeCerbo said. "We can't continue this ad infinitium."

DeCerbo plans to go back to court to obtain permission to drain excess water caused by heavy rainfall through floodgates on the east side of the property. So far, Sandra Tyrell and Lakeside Stables have prevented that, and they've gotten the courts to agree. Tyrell contended that the water is trespassing on her land.

"She placed her interest over the entire community," Tellshow said.

"We're trying to get the court to lift the injunction," DeCerbo said. "And we're optimistic that will happen."

Two attempts to call Tyrell before press time on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

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