Tampa Bay Region - Southwest Florida Water Management District

N289
WMP - Pinellas - Allen's Creek Watershed
Project Type
AORs
Water Quality
Flood Protection
Cooperative Funding
Strategic Initiatives
Water Quality Maintenance and Improvement
Floodplain Management
Pinellas County
Cooperator(s)
Project Manager Terese Power
Task Manager(s)
Status
Proposed Coop. Funding Application
Recommendation
Fund as a 1A priority. This request is for the continued funding of a multi-year funded project for the Watershed Management Plan
for the Allen's Creek Watershed.
Description
This is a multi-year funded project to perform the Watershed Evaluation and Watershed Management Plan elements of the
District's Watershed Management Program (WMP) for the Allen's Creek Watershed. The project area is approximately 5,000 acres,
located in Pinellas County. A Watershed Management Plan provides a method to evaluate the capacity of a watershed to protect,
enhance, and restore water quality and natural systems, while achieving flood protection. The Watershed Evaluation element is the
collection and organization of detailed information such as land elevation, ditches, culverts and other stormwater management
features that affect how water moves within a watershed. The Watershed Evaluation tasks include the collection of existing data,
development of the geodatabase, Geographical Information System (GIS) processing, field reconnaissance, and development of
preliminary model features. The information is organized as a geodatabase in the GIS. The Watershed Evaluation establishes the
complexity of the watershed and provides a geodatabase that defines the watershed's natural conveyance and storage features,
and stormwater infrastructure. The Watershed Evaluation is the foundation for the Watershed Management Plan, the next element
in the Watershed Management Program. The Watershed Management Plan tasks for this project include watershed model
parameterization, computer modeling, floodplain analysis, surface water resource assessment (SWRA), establishment of level of
service (LOS), and Best Management Practices (BMP) alternative analysis. With FY2013 funding, the Watershed Management Plan
tasks will be completed.
Benefits
Completing elements of the District's Watershed Management Program is one of the District's Strategic Priorities for managing the
water resource, and provides information to local governments to address land use changes and stormwater management within
a specific watershed. The information developed provides the science for the District's resource management and Environmental
Resource Permitting (ERP) responsibilities. It assists local governments with their land management responsibilities by
identifying the floodplain, establishing a level of service, evaluating BMPs to address level of service deficiencies, and providing a
geodatabase and projected results from watershed model simulations for floodplain management, and water quality
management.
Costs
The projected total cost for this project is $650,000 of which the District's share is $325,000 and the County's share is $325,000.
$125,000 was appropriated in the District's 2011 budget. Work on Watershed Evaluation tasks began with those funds. With
FY2013 funding, District $200,000, County $200,000, for a total $400,000, remaining tasks for the Watershed Management Plan
will be complete. The District funding amount shown in the table includes staff salaries.
Additional Information
The WMP includes five major elements: 1) Topographic information, 2) Watershed Evaluation, 3) Watershed Management Plan, 4)
Implementation of Best Management Practices, and 5) Maintenance of Watershed Parameters and Models. Implementing
elements of the WMP with local governments is one of the District's Strategic Priorities. The development of watershed models
and plans to identify potential projects or BMPs will help to resolve or mitigate water resource issues. The District has worked with
the County to develop an implementation schedule by watershed based on their projected funding levels. Pinellas County will
manage this project. A cooperative funding agreement has been developed as a multi-year funded project contingent on the
approval of future funding to complete the project. FY 2013 funding will complete the project. This project is ranked 3rd among the
5 projects for which the County is requesting cooperative funding for FY2013. A senior administrator provided confirmation that the
County will budget the project for FY2013.
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