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The Southwest Florida Water Management District and the City of Sarasota recently approved an agreement to work together on a project that will extend reclaimed water service to Payne Park.The Payne Park Reuse Project consists of the construction of approximately 4,280 linear feet of reclaimed water transmission line to connect Payne Park with the city’s downtown loop reclaimed water system.Payne Park is being developed in phases on a former mobile home park site and… Read more

A project jointly funded by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Pasco County will allow approximately 300 residential customers to connect to reclaimed water service.The Timber Greens Golf Course currently pumps reclaimed water directly from the Pasco County Reuse Transmission System, which lowers reclaimed water pressure in the area near the golf course. Because of this loss in pressure, the county has not been able to offer reclaimed water to some nearby… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District has begun construction of a project that will improve water quality entering McKay Bay and Tampa Bay.The McKay Bay-Eastshore Commerce Park Parcel Stormwater Retrofit project will treat runoff from the 1,050-acre basin within the McKay Bay watershed of Tampa Bay, which is a Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) priority water body. The project will be built on land owned by Tampa Bay Water.Stormwater will be diverted… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is holding a workshop to gather the public’s input on how the Starkey Wilderness Preserve should be managed and used.The workshop will be held at the Starkey Environmental Education Center on Thursday, April 28 at 6 p.m. The environmental center is located at the Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park, 10500 Wilderness Park Road in New Port Richey.The Starkey Wilderness Preserve encompasses more than 19,000 acres of land in… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is asking for the public’s input on updating the land management plan for the Starkey Wilderness Preserve.A workshop will be held at the Starkey Environmental Education Center on Thursday, April 28 at 6 p.m. The environmental center is located at the Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park, 10500 Wilderness Park Road in New Port Richey.The Starkey Wilderness Preserve encompasses more than 19,000 acres of land in southwestern… Read more

Surrounding the crystal waters of Three Sisters Springs, visitors can easily spot exposed tree roots and an eroded shoreline. The erosion has caused sediments to enter spring vents and trees to collapse. It has meant a loss of habitat and dangerous conditions for visitors. That’s why the District will be restoring the shoreline around Three Sisters Springs. The project will start this month, and the District will host a meeting at Crystal River’s City Hall at 5:30 p.m… Read more

table(webalert). |Who:|Stewart Middle School students and staff.||*What:*|Students will continue a shoreline restoration project that began in 2008 by collecting trash along the Hillsborough River shoreline and planting 300 native plants. It's part of a unique project between the District and Hillsborough County Public Schools at Stewart Middle School, which is located on the Hillsborough River near downtown Tampa. The project involved restoring a section of shoreline by… Read more

Education in Action The District was recently honored as the Hillsborough Education Foundation 2002 District Business Partner of the Year. The award was presented to the District at a ceremony for 700 business, community and education leaders at the Tampa Hyatt Regency in October. More than 100 businesses that enhance education through volunteerism or the donation of goods and services were nominated for awards. The 2002 District Business Partner of the Year Award… Read more

Elementary students at Lincoln Avenue Academy in Polk County painted rain barrels as part of their mini-grant. The barrels were then provided to school families and members of the community. Educators interested in securing a Splash! mini-grant for the 2008–2009 school year are invited to apply online on the District’s web site at WaterMatters.org/Education… Read more

Florida residents experienced the catastrophic effects when the Panhandle was struck by Hurricane Michael in October 2018. Observing the preparation and devastation from that devastating storm was an eye-opening experience for many District staff members. It’s a lesson they’ll take into this hurricane season, which started June 1 and runs through November. Hurricane Michael is the most powerful storm to ever impact the Panhandle Region, making landfall as a… Read more

 Dozens of District staff donate blood each time the LifeSouth bloodmobile visits the Brooskville office. I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for blood donors” That’s what a District employee told Susan Wood, LifeSouth donor recruiter, during a recent blood drive at the District’s Brooksville Headquarters. The staff member is a six-year leukemia survivor who needed blood transfusions during her treatment. “I hear stories like this all the time,” said… Read more

Deborah Webb, student intern,working on the Alkalinity Titrator; Matt Jablonski, staff chemist, measures chlorophyll concentrations. Every day, Laura Casino, District chemist, takes water samples from ice-filled coolers delivered to the lab for chlorophyll analysis. Since chlorophyll degrades quickly, the samples are collected in opaque containers that protect it from any light and then preserved in ice. Laura removes the containers, taking short breaks between… Read more

(See Upper Hillsborough Preserve for overall information.)

The District is nearing completion of its effort to upgrade the datum, or starting point, used to record water level elevation. The upgrade will improve accuracy of water elevation, which is measured in feet above the mean sea level.Staff are projected to finish the upgrade by completing the southern regions of the District in 2016.  The datum is being upgraded from the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) awarded $97,640.28 in grants to 43 educators within the District as part of the Splash! school grant program. The program provides up to $3,000 per school to enhance student knowledge of freshwater resources in grades K-12. Splash! grants encourage hands-on student learning through STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities as well as engagement of the greater school community through… Read more

The District will move forward with an evaluation of recreation on District lands. The District’s Recreation Ad Hoc Committee, made up of four Governing Board members, approved Thursday moving forward with the evaluation process to determine if current recreational opportunities on District lands are consistent with regional and state trends. The District’s… Read more

The "Southwest Florida Water Management District":http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/ (District) will hold a Recreation Ad Hoc Committee meeting Thursday, May 30, at 9:30 a.m. The meeting will take place at the Tampa Service Office, located at 7601 U.S. Highway 301.The Recreation Ad Hoc Committee, made up of four Governing Board members, will provide guidance and review future staff recommendations. Staff will be evaluating the District's lands to determine whether the current… Read more

Sixteen Pasco County teachers are among the record number of educators who applied for and received Splash! mini-grants through the Southwest Florida Water Management District.This year the District awarded Splash! mini-grants to 209 educators totaling more than $413,000. That’s 72 more grant recipients than last year.Mary Margaret Hull, lead communication coordinator, attributes the increase in awardees to an increase in promotion among the District’s school… Read more

At its June 5 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board adopted a proposed fiscal year 2009 (FY2009) millage rate of 0.2421 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year. The Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board area includes the northwest portion of Hillsborough County.This millage rate, combined with a reduction in taxable property values as estimated by the county property appraiser, will result in an estimated… Read more

At its July 26 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Hillsborough River Basin Board adopted a fiscal year 2008 (FY2008) millage rate of 0.2547 mill, which is .0303 less than the current fiscal year. This reduction is in accordance with the tax reduction mandated by the Florida Legislature.The FY2008 millage rate has been set equal to 97 percent of the rolled-back rate in compliance with House Bill 1B, the tax reform legislation signed into law by… Read more