County Launches Lake Clay Cleanup

The Highlands County commissioners agreed Tuesday to work with the Southwest Florida Water Management District on stopping the pollution threat from storm water run-off into picturesque Lake Clay in Lake Placid.

By spending $31,250, the commissioners agreed to fund one-fourth the cost of the design phase while the water management district provides 75 percent of the funding.

With the county's commitment, SWFWMD will hire a consultant to design systems that slow down the run-off and filter out pollutants flowing into the lake from the Tower Plaza parking lot and off of Plaza Drive and Lake Clay Road.

"Removing the suspended solids is the major thing that we're trying to do," said Clell Ford, county lakes manager. That will also stop metals, including lead and zinc, from getting into the lake, because they collect on dirt particles, he said.

"Phosphorous and nitrogen are the main nutrients we're looking to remove," Ford added. "Generally speaking, if you remove the solids you'll be removing most of the nutrient load to the lake as well."

Preliminary design plans should be completed by March, when the proposed system will be explained at public meetings, Ford said. Completion of the design phase is scheduled for November 2009 and construction of the storm water management system is expected to start in February 2010.

The water management district has estimated construction of the storm water management system at between $271,000 to $428,000, with the water district again paying 75 percent and the county 25 percent.

Ford said he will request county budgeting of up to $107,000 in fiscal year 2010 for the project, but chances are good that the cost will be considerably lower.

The project may involve French drains, holding tanks that collect run-off and let it escape through a filter at the bottom of the tank. But, Ford said, the lower cost option of digging swales to hold storm water could solve most of the problem.

"There are very cost effective ways of removing this stuff from the water, and one of the best ways is with swales and having the water filter into the ground," he said. "If that is our design, it would cost considerably less.

"If you sequester the water (in a swale) and let it seep into the ground, the ground does an excellent job of holding the nutrients."

Ford said the water quality in Lake Clay remains good and preventing polluted run-off from fouling it will prevent a much more costly clean up in the future.

Commissioner Don Bates called taking action now "a win-win situation for everyone."

"The lake is in good shape, and it's so much cheaper to prevent it from getting in bad shape," Bates said. "This seems like a good way to prevent future expenses and the loss of the lake.

"If we don't take these proactive steps now before the lake gets in serious trouble, we have let down our taxpayers and our community," Bates added. "We have to do these things while they are relatively cheap and it prevents the degradation of the lake."

Using the more expensive French drains instead of swales appears unlikely, he said.

"Hopefully," he said, "we're going to be able to do it by building some swales and sand berms and those are relatively cheap to install and relatively inexpensive to maintain."

Debra Worley, a former Lake Placid town councilwoman and a board member of the Highlands County Lakes Association, praised the commissioners' decision to pursue this project.

"I'm thrilled, because we're not just sampling and just testing and doing studies anymore," she said. "We're actually taking on a project, we're actually going to fix one of our serious lake problems."