Lake Seminole lowered again following rainfall
By KATHY FERGUSON
Article published on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006  |
SEMINOLE – The torrential rainfall Feb. 3 caused Lake Seminole to fill back up by more than 2.5 feet, said Kelli Levy, Pinellas County’s environmental program coordinator.
Rainfall in the area on that day fell at a rate of 3 inches an hour for most of the day.
To lower the lake, again, so that restoration activities could continue, the gates on the south side of the lake were opened Feb. 6 to allow millions of gallons of lake water to flow into Boca Ciega Bay.
Levy said the unusual weather event wouldn’t impact the overall restoration schedule.
“The lake will be down in time for the scraping work and boat ramp improvements,” she said. But the exposed ground won’t be as dry as anticipated.
So to make the process go smoother, the Lake Seminole clean up previously scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 18, has been moved to Saturday, March 4. In concert with this clean up, Keep Pinellas Beautiful and Pinellas County will host an appreciation day to hand out “I walked on the bottom of Lake Seminole” T-shirts and some well deserved refreshments, said Levy.
The clean up time is from 9 a.m. until noon with the appreciation event from 1 to 3 p.m.
The community clean up for the north end of Lake Seminole including residents of Lakeside, Lake Park, Pointe West, Lake Seminole Resort, Orange Lake Village and Holiday Shores is still on for Saturday, Feb. 26. Participants from this clean-up activity are encouraged to attend the appreciation event Saturday, March 4.
To support both cleanups, trash bags, gloves, bottled water, pickers and dumpsters will be provided. But, Levy said, volunteers are still needed for both days. Anyone interested in volunteering for the clean up should call 533-0402 to register.
The goal of the lake lowering is to scrape out yards of muck and then, hopefully, the new bottom will allow fish to flourish and plants to grow. The deadline is to have the project wrapped up by March.
Also work will begin on installing filter systems to clean the stormwater as it drains into the lake. Years of untreated stormwater runoff has carried fertilizers and pesticides into the lake creating a stagnant, unhealthy body of water.
Once the current project is finished, rainwater will fill the lake back up naturally. If the recent weather is any indication, it shouldn’t take that long.
With a philosophical, upbeat attitude, Levy said the project is steadily moving forward and added that the lake lowering being impacted by such an extreme weather situation was “just Murphy’s Law.”
Questions about the Lake Seminole project should be made to Levy at 464-4425 or send her an e-mail at klevy@pinellascounty.org.
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Article published on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006
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