Subscribe to Water News Menu Newsroom About Us Core missions Careers PROJECTS The St. Johns River Water Management District implements a wide variety of projects — many with partners — aimed at protecting water supplies, improving water quality and restoring natural systems, as well as providing flood protection in an 18-county jurisdiction in northeast and east-central Florida. The projects described on this page — undertaken to fulfill its core missions — are broken into district-led restoration and construction projects, springs protection projects, and districtwide and agricultural cost-share projects. Agricultural cost-share Black Creek Lake Jesup Cost-share projects Crane Creek / M-1 Canal Doctors Lake Lake Apopka Lake Minneola Springs protection Lake Jesup projects Lake Jesup is a hydrologically complex system with a large, urbanized watershed and is the largest lake in Seminole County. The lake is shallow with a relatively low flushing rate that drains a 150-square-mile watershed, including portions of Oviedo, Sanford, Winter Park, Casselberry, Maitland, Longwood, Altamonte Springs, Lake Mary, Eatonville, Winter Springs and Orlando in Seminole and Orange counties. Local stakeholder interest in restoring the lake began in 1993 with the Friends of Lake Jesup. In 2002, the District’s Governing Board designated Lake Jesup as a priority basin for restoration of water quality and fish and wildlife habitats. In 2008, in conjunction with the Lake Jesup Interagency Management Strategy, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection adopted a total maximum daily load for total phosphorus followed by the Lake Jesup Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP). As a result, progress is being made to reduce nutrient sources and concentrations to improve the lake’s water quality and clarity. The St. Johns River Water Management District is currently conducting projects in the lake to improve its water quality, as follows: Lake Jesup intact cellular algae harvesting with simultaneous nutrient export This pilot project, being conducted by AECOM, has deployed a mobile algal harvesting unit that removes nitrogen and phosphorus through direct removal of the entire algae cell (known as intact cellular algae) and suspended solids located within the upper 12-inches of the water column in Lake Jesup. An innovative air flotation technology will be utilized to attach microscopic air bubbles to the algae and sediment floc, creating buoyancy, to allow efficient separation of algal biomass and clarified water. Clarified water will return to the lake while algal biomass will be managed at Seminole County’s Yankee Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant. The harvesting unit is mounted on a barge and transported around Lake Jesup so that algae can be harvested at various locations. The pilot project received $1.65 million, in 2020, through a Florida Department of Environmental Protection Harmful Algal Bloom Innovate Technology Project Grant solicitation requesting proposals from government entities to prevent, detect, cleanup, or otherwise address harmful algal blooms in Florida’s waterways. This was a direct result of the 2019 Blue-Green Algae Task Force, formed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. It is anticipated that AECOM will periodically operate the algae harvesting system for eight months. Completion of system operations is anticipated in spring 2022. The objective of this pilot project is to collect representative data to evaluate system efficiency and the cost effectiveness of a full-scale system that can help achieve the Lake Jesup Total Maximum Daily Load and Basin Management Action Plan goals. A mobile algal harvesting unit is mounted to a barge and is removing algae from Lake Jesup in a pilot project. Project poster Water quality, flow restoration project costs The District completed a feasibility study in 2014 evaluating the use of a wetland treatment system to treat pumped water inflow from Lake Jesup. The proposed project, which was expected to take about three to four years to complete (contingent on funding), will pump water from Lake Jesup into a treatment system made up of ponds and wetlands to remove phosphorus and nitrogen from the lake. This will also improve light penetration into the water column and encourage the growth of underwater plants. The proposed project was identified in the District’s long-range project plan and will be located on 1,169 acres of land that the District purchased in 1990 (the Little Cameron Ranch parcel). In March 2018, the District’s Governing Board approved an additional feasibility evaluation to include a new component of the proposed project to restore the flow between the St. Johns River and the eastern portion of Lake Jesup. Hydrologic modifications to the confluence between the river and lake date back to the steamboat era of the late 1800s. In 2010, the Florida Department of Transportation completed a new 3,470-foot-long span bridge over the confluence and, in the process, removed the State Road 46 earthen causeway. This construction created an opportunity to restore the water flow that the causeway was blocking. The evaluation concluded that construction of a channel under the eastern span of the State Road 46 bridge, known as Channel C, would restore flow between the river and the lake. The proposed project will also focus on improving water clarity/quality and providing habitat enhancements by introducing additional water flow from the river. In March 2020, the District’s Governing Board approved a contract with Johnson, Mirmiran and Thompson, Inc. for the design and permitting of the Lake Jesup Nutrient Reduction and Flow Enhancement Project. The design and permitting will encompass both the wetland treatment system located on the Little Cameron Ranch property and Channel C flow restoration. Completion of the design and permitting is anticipated by fall of 2022. Project costs Total construction: $20–25 million (est. at 60% design level) Engineering: $1.1 million Operation and maintenance: $250,000–$400,000/year Benefits Estimated total phosphorus reduction: 2,800 lbs./yr. Estimated total nitrogen reduction: 23,800 lbs./yr. Estimated increase in area suitable for submerged aquatic vegetation: 200–500 acres Project schedule FY 2019–2020: Initiate design and permitting FY 2020–2022: Ongoing design and permitting FY 2022–2023: Complete design and permitting FY 2023–2024: Bidding and begin construction (contingent on funding) Lake Jesup sediment phosphorus flux treatment evaluation project The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the District are collaborating on an evaluation of various chemical treatment technologies to reduce the flux of phosphorus from Lake Jesup’s sediments into the water column. The goal is to reduce the phosphorus concentration in the lake’s water to reduce algal bloom intensity, duration and frequency. The study will evaluate treatment efficiencies, phosphorus removal rates, cost efficiencies and determine which treatment technologies may reduce phosphorus flux rates in Lake Jesup to the greatest extent. The phase 1 work examined a suite of treatment technologies in a controlled laboratory bench-scale study that were identified in the Request for Information by the District in 2017 and updated in 2020. Each technology was designed to reduce net phosphorus flux from the sediments to the water column. The results of the bench-scale study concluded that of the three treatment amendments, ViroPhos out-performed the other technologies and provided the most consistent level of phosphorus flux reduction. ViroPhos was also found to be the most cost-effective at reducing total phosphorus concentration. Phase II work will evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment technology recommended in the bench study in outdoor mesocosms to assess potential limitations of the selected technology in more realistic and complex in-lake conditions. The District’s solicitation for the Phase II work is currently out with submittals due in October. Submittals will be scored and ranked based on project qualifications and evaluation criteria. Governing Board approval of the awarded contractor is anticipated in November. Contact us Civil rights statement SJRWMD’s regulatory plan Tell us how we’re doing Employee portal Accessibility statement Copyright © 2021 | St. Johns River Water Management District | Liability disclaimer