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As the difficult task of cleaning up after the deadly Hurricane Charley continues, Southwest Florida Water Management District employees have mobilized to assist local governments clear roads and culverts, and transport and unload vital supplies.District staff and equipment have been dispatched to Polk, Charlotte, Hardee and Highlands counties.Polk CountyTwenty-nine District employees, dispatched from the Bartow Service Office Incident Command Center, are working with Polk…

Eight Pinellas County projects that have the potential to reach approximately 298,800 people were awarded Community Education Grants from the Southwest Florida Water Management District. These grants offer up to $5,000 to help fund projects that provide communities an opportunity to learn about water resources.This year the District awarded 32 grants Districtwide. This is the 12th year Community Education Grants have been available.The overall goal of the Community…

table(webalert). |*Who:*|The Tampa Port Authority, Hillsborough County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.||*What:*|The Cockroach Bay Restoration Project represents one of the largest, most complex coastal ecosystem restorations ever developed for Tampa Bay.Before the restoration, this area suffered from a number of environmental problems, including habitat degradation, invasive plant infestation and poor water quality. Since the property was purchased by…

Four Citrus County teachers were awarded Splash! school grants through the "Southwest Florida Water Management District(Southwest Florida Water Management District)":/.Mary Margaret Hull, District lead communications coordinator, attributes the effectiveness of the grant program in Citrus County to the strong partnership with Citrus County Schools. Gayle Nobles, the coordinator of special academic programs for Citrus County Schools, serves as the District's liaison to…

The "US Fish and Wildlife Service(US Fish and Wildlife Service)":http://www.fws.gov/, the "Friends of Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge(Friends of Chassahowitzka)":http://friendsofchazz.org/ and the "Southwest Florida Water Management District(Southwest Florida Water Management District)":/ are holding their last public open house of this manatee season at the newly acquired Three Sisters Springs property on Saturday, Feb. 26, from 8 a.m. to noon."This will be the last…

The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board Tuesday adopted its proposed fiscal year 2011 (FY2011) millage rates for the General Fund and the seven Basin Boards.The Governing Board adopted a proposed FY2011 millage rate of 0.3866 mill for the District's General Fund, which is the same as the current fiscal year. FY2011 will run from Oct. 1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2011.The total proposed FY2011 budget for the District is $282.9 million, 5.35 percent lower…

The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board Tuesday adopted its proposed fiscal year 2011 (FY2011) millage rates for the General Fund and the seven Basin Boards.The Governing Board adopted a proposed FY2011 millage rate of 0.3866 mill for the District's General Fund, which is the same as the current fiscal year. FY2011 will run from Oct. 1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2011.The total proposed FY2011 budget for the District is $282.9 million, 5.35 percent lower…

Efforts to restore Lake Panasoffkee are progressing well as almost half of the 1,977-acre dredging portion of the Lake Panasoffkee Restoration Council’s four-step, multi-million dollar restoration plan is complete.According to the Lake Panasoffkee Restoration Council’s annual report, which was recently accepted by the Southwest Florida Management District and will be submitted to the Legislature, approximately 956 acres have been dredged.The restoration plan, which is being…

District staff celebrated many accomplishments in 2012 and continued to serve the community by carrying out the core mission. After decades of collaboration and work with other cities, agencies and community partners, several restoration projects were completed in 2012. Projects like those at Cockroach Bay and Clam Bayou improved water quality and restored sensitive habitats. Mother Nature packed a wallop in 2012, bringing the threat of two tropical storms. Staff…

Environmental Concern An Oldsmar Boy Scout was recently honored by the Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board for his work on a project at the Brooker Creek Preserve. Mark Brandon of Troop 64 of Oldsmar designed and created self-guided tour material for one of the nature trails in the preserve. Mark found out about the need for trail markers at Brooker Creek through his mom, Sue Brandon, who volunteers at the Preserve. Mark is a Life Scout, one step below an Eagle…

Conservation Takes Center Stage April in Florida… It’s an ideal time to enjoy a little fun in the sun and to remind Floridians about the importance of water conservation. The state Legislature designated April as Water Conservation Month because April is in the dry season, typically the time when water needs are most acute and temperatures begin to climb. Although Florida receives an average of 52 inches of rainfall per year, 60 percent of that annual rainfall is…

In October, the District launched a comprehensive education program, “Know Where It Flows,” to enhance the District’s ongoing efforts to improve the water quality in Crystal River/Kings Bay and the surrounding areas. “Kings Bay and other Citrus County areas have been particularly susceptible to water pollutants in ground water as a result of the area’s growth,” said Lizanne Garcia, Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) program manager. The District has…

An innovative project in Hillsborough County could lead to a water reuse revolution! The cooperatively funded effort between the District’s Hillsborough River Basin Board and Tampa Bay Fisheries won the 2005 WateReuse Award for facilities generating less than 1 million gallons of reuse water per day. Robert Paterson, president and CEO of Tampa Bay Fisheries (Fisheries), accepted the award during the annual WateReuse Symposium in September. The project is providing…

Southwest Florida Water Management District Executive Director David L. Moore this month declared a modified Phase II Severe Water Shortage that restricts lawn watering to one day per week throughout the 16-county District. The restrictions apply to the use of water from public and private water utilities, as well as the use of all wells and surface water sources (ponds, rivers, etc.). The order went into effect January 16 and will remain in place until July 31 unless…

Housekeeper proudly displays Water C.H.A.M.P. materials at the Holiday Inn Express. The District’s award-winning Water Conservation Hotel And Motel Program (Water C.H.A.M.P.) reached a major milestone in July when the Holiday Inn Express Hotel &Suites on North Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa signed up as its 300th hotel. Water C.H.A.M.P. is the District’s linens and towels reuse program, which began in September 2002 as a pilot project in the Pinellas- Anclote…

  Basin Board: Alafia River Basin Board Term: March 5, 2002 to March 1, 2008 Occupation: Real estate broker Town of Residence: Brandon Hometown: Tampa Reason you applied to be a Basin Board member: Having been a Hillsborough County commissioner for two terms, I am aware of the importance of balancing a finite quantity of water…

Some Areas Show Significant Gains Scientists with the Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) completed the latest round of seagrass mapping along Florida’s Springs Coast. The results of the aerial imagery collected show 586,511 acres of mapped seagrass habitat along the Springs Coast, up slightly from the previous total of 577,920 acres in 2016. The open water nature of the area and the largely undeveloped and expansive coastal wetlands…

Small portion of debris removed from area sinkholes. The District has completed a three-year project to improve water quality in the District’s springs by removing debris from sinkholes and areas with high aquifer permeability. Over the three-year period, 90.77 tons of debris were removed from 18 sinkholes and other karst features in Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties. Some of the items removed from the sinkholes included shopping carts, newspaper stands…

Clockwise from above: Terese Power, staff engineer, uses a watershed model to show how pollution works its way into rivers and lakes. Jason LaRoche, professional geologist, shows kids that “geology rocks.” Chris Barnes, student intern, demonstrates water quality field testing. Shannon Maynard, chemist, helps a student mix up a chemistry demonstration. Nearly 120 children learned about District jobs April 22 at the District’s 14th annual celebration of Take Our…

Lake Panasoffkee water is clearer, eelgrass is thicker and fisheries are richer in response to the recent restoration project and effective management of lake levels, according to the District and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials. The lake continues to respond well following the dredging restoration project, which was completed in November 2008. The 10-year, $26.9 million project restored Lake Panasoffkee’s historic fish bedding areas and…