WaterMatters Magazine Archive

Excellence in Engineering District employee Bill Hartmann recently received a pat on the back from his peers. Hartmann, who is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), was named the…

Electronic Innovation Testing is complete! The District is now offering the opportunity for permit holders to submit required data conditions over the Internet. A few years ago, the District asked permit…

Lasting Impression Through Learning A unique environmental education program is giving Dunnellon students the opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the community. The students are participating in the…

SWIM Success Story An ugly duckling was transformed into a pollution-removing swan through a District Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) project. The “ugly duckling” in this story was a Florida…

Starkey Trail Extension  Left: Bike riders eagerly await the opening of the Starkey Trail extension. Right: Taking part in the trail’s ribbon-cutting ceremony are: Jon Kennedy, Tampa Bay Water; Judy…

The Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center was the ideal place to honor the very best in District-sponsored community and youth water resources education projects and to equip the awardees to…

Basin Board Members Tour River  District staff and Governing Board and Basin Board members tour the Withlacoochee River. Members of the District’s Withlacoochee River Basin Board recently toured the…

Hard Work is Appreciated  District workers cleared miles of roads and streets in Polk County after Hurricane Charley. The hard work and dedication District staff exhibited after Hurricane Charley left…

Canal Prevents Flooding  The gates are partially closed at Structure 155, allowing only minimal flow downstream. Behind the structure, the river is going over a spillway into the Tampa Bypass Canal. "…

Volunteer Contribution  Terry Yoder of the Citizen Support Organization, far right, receives an award from District Governing Board Chair Watson L. Haynes II, Governing Board member Janet D. Kovach, and…

Safety First  Gary Kuhl, left, Operations Department Director, accepted an award from Stephen H. Partney, P.E., Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) Program Administrator at a recent banquet…

Water Stewardship of the Year Award Winner And the nominees for water stewardship are…” While the District’s Water Stewardship Awards program may not be as big as the Oscars, the program is like the Academy…

Watson Haynes II, Governing Board chair, and Ronnie Duncan, Governing Board member, were on hand to celebrate the Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center grand opening. The $1.4 million center…

Nine new Governing and Basin Board members from throughout the District recently attended an information session aimed at giving them a more in-depth view of the responsibilities of the District’s different…

A multimillion-dollar cooperative project among three government entities is cleaning up a watershed that eventually empties into Tampa Bay. The creation of McIntosh Park began when Hillsborough County…

Ronnie Duncan, a member of the Governing Board and the District’s Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board, attended “Perk Up a Park.” The event was held at Lake Seminole Park in Seminole and focused on cleaning…

Efforts to restore Lake Panasoffkee recently took a major step forward. The dredging of Step 2 of the Lake Panasoffkee Restoration Council’s four-step, multi-million dollar restoration plan began July 7.…

  Gardenia Long, Watson Haynes II, Charles C. Scott and Lorraine Mayers at the Florida water management districts’ booth at the National Urban League Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Be loyal. Be a team…

District Thoughts & Faces “For me, spending a week away from my wife and 2-year old son was not very encouraging. My son did not understand why I needed to be away from him. He doesn’t understand…

Animal Assistance Some people panic when they hear disaster is heading their way; others mobilize and see what they can do to help. When Leigh Rogers, a regulation processing specialist at the District’s…

Long Distance Assistance As of Friday morning, August 13, Hurricane Charley was still projected to strike the Tampa Bay area. That’s when Garry Flood’s supervisor, Dale Ravencraft, asked him to travel to…

Statewide Tracker System One of the reasons the state has been able to mobilize so efficiently to assist the victims of Hurricane Charley is the use of the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) Tracker…

Dazed But Not Defeated   West-central Florida was rocked against the ropes by a one-two punch combination — Hurricanes Charley and Frances. Charley was a quick, compact, uppercut with winds in excess…