A project funded by the Southwest Florida Water Management Districts Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board and the City of Clearwater will improve water quality, reduce erosion and increase flood protection along the Stevensons Creek Watershed.
The watershed encompasses an area of approximately 10 square miles in western Pinellas that includes the cities of Dunedin and Clearwater.
This multi-year project will allow the implementation of the Best Management Practices (BMPs) element of the Districts Watershed Management Program for the Spring Branch improvement area of the Stevensons Creek Watershed, located downstream of King’s Highway.
A watershed management plan is a process that identifies, prioritizes and addresses water resources issues within a watershed. A plan has five stages:
*The collection of detailed information such as land elevation, drainage ditches, culverts, and other features that affect how water moves within the watershed;
*The evaluation of the collected data to identify flooding or water quality problems;
*The identification of potential projects, or best management practices, that will resolve the water resource problems;
*The implementation of best management practices to resolve problems;
*The regular updating of data to ensure that decisions are being made based on the best available information.
The project consists of the widening of approximately 700 feet of the Spring Branch Channel and the construction of a three-acre stormwater retention pond, which will add erosion protection and improve conveyance along channel banks. These measures will address the issues of water quality, flooding and erosion.
Solving the water quality issue is of particular interest because channel erosion from the watershed continuously deposits sediment into Clearwater Harbor, an Outstanding Florida Water Body and State Aquatic Preserve.
This cooperatively funded effort is estimated to cost $2 million, which will be divided evenly between the District’s Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board and Clearwater.
Construction is slated to begin in November 2007 and is expected to be complete by November 2009.