Lake Apopka
Restoration Project
W
inter Garden is nestled along the southern shore of the fifth largest
lake in the state, Lake Apopka (over 30,000 acres; just following
Lakes Okeechobee, George, Seminole and Kissimmee). Native
Americans had inhabited the area for thousands of years until
the colonization of Florida by Spanish explorers. European settlers began
arriving around 1845 and were attracted to the rich soil around the lake.
In the early part of the twentieth century, the lake was reportedly so
clear that you could look deep into the waters and see fish and other
aquatic life. Winter Garden attracted fishermen who heard stories of
the abundance of large mouth bass and many fishing camps soon began
sprouting on all around the shores. The lake soon became known as
one of the best bass and catfish fishing destinations in the country. Also
attracted by the fertile peat soils surrounding the shores of the lake,
farmers began row crop, or “muck,” farming operations, causing the lake
to lose 20,000 acres of wetlands along the north shore. This area was
cultivated for the agricultural production of vegetables, including corn,
carrots, cucumbers, radishes, and lettuce.
In the early 1920s, the Winter Garden’s sewage treatment plant was
constructed, and effluent was dumped into the waters. Area citrus
packing plants also began discharging waste into the lake. In the 1940s,
agricultural discharges laden with phosphorous were introduced into the
lake -- a process which continued through the late 1990s. After years
of toxins and other waste being repeatedly introduced into the lake, an
overabundance of algae blooms were produced. The cloudy, pea green
water prevented sunlight from reaching underwater vegetation critical to
fish and wildlife habitat.
As the algae died, its continual settling created a thick layer of soupy
muck, which also destroyed the habitat necessary for fish and wildlife
to thrive. The bass population declined significantly and once the bass
disappeared, all the fish camps closed. Gizzard Shad, a fish which thrives
by eating algae and then excretes nutrients that promote further algae
growth, had become the main resident in the lake. The lake’s ecosystem
collapsed and the waters continued to be polluted. Massive fish kills
began to be documented and continued through the 1980s. Lake Apopka
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Winter Garden Magazine
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march 2015
was no longer a fishing destination … it had become known as the most
polluted lake in Florida.
Thankfully, a group of concerned residents began petitioning to help
the lake and hopefully restore it to its previous splendor. Many tests
and efforts were made over the years, but still thousands of fish, birds,
alligators, and other wildlife and vegetation continued to die off. Finally,
in 1987, Florida legislature created the Surface Water Improvement and
Management Act, establishing the Lake Apopka Restoration Council and
Technical Advisory Committee.
Under the guidance and dedication of Jim Thomas, an environmental
biologist and owner of BIOSPHERE (an environmental consulting firm
in Winter Garden), the Friends of Lake Apopka (FOLA) organized in
1991, advocating the restoration of the lake. This broad based citizens
group appealed to agricultural interests to change their farming
practices, and sought public support to restore the lake. After years of
work FOLA endorsed the Lake Apopka Restoration Act of 1996 in the
Florida Legislature passed another statute.
These organizations and statutes led to four major efforts involved in
the restoration and protection of the lake. The first was the purchase
of agricultural land on the north shore to reducing excessive nutrient
discharges and contamination from those sites. Restoration of these
former farmlands to functioning wetlands has expedited cleanup efforts
and succeeded in removing over 20 million metric tons of phosphorous,
returning the area to safe levels for fish and wildlife.
The second major effort was the the creation of the Marsh Flow-Way
in 2003 -- a 760 acre area is located just west of the Apopka-Beauclair
Canal. This area has four separate wetland cells which together act as
a kidney for the lake, cleaning particles from the water and retuning
cleaner water into the lake.
In 1992, the push to restore shoreline aquatic wetland plants began
in order to stabilize and improve the habitat for fish and wildlife. As the
lake’s water quality continues to improve, these native aquatic plants will
be able to reestablish themselves.