Middle St. Johns - Florida Department of Environmental Protection

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Water Quality Assessment Report: Middle St. Johns
Of these, 12 are lakes, including Lake Jesup. The other lakes are
mostly small urban lakes that are potentially impaired primarily by
nutrients.
With excessive amounts of phosphorus, nitrogen, organic “muck”
deposits, and declining fish numbers, Lake Jesup is a hypereutrophic lake,
deficient of submerged aquatic vegetation (SJRWMD, 2002a). Additional
problems such as poor lake circulation and nutrient and sediment loading
have degraded water quality (URS, 2001). The S.R. 46 bridge and causeway
constrict the single outlet channel connecting the lake to the St. Johns
River, limiting the lake’s water circulation (SJRWMD, 2001a). Sediments
have developed on the bottom of Lake Jesup due to years of discharged
municipal wastewater and still may be a source of nutrient loading in the
lake (URS, 2001). Overall, the lake’s water quality is poor, partly due to
the inhibited circulation (URS, 2001). For graphical information concerning
water quality trends in Lake Jesup, see Figure F.2 in Appendix F.
Other potential impairments in the planning unit include low DO
levels, poor biological community structure, and high metals concentrations.
Two creeks, Soldier Creek and Gee Creek, are potentially impaired
for a variety of contaminants. Soldier Creek was placed on the 1998
303(d) list for coliforms, DO, nutrients, and lead, and under the IWR is
potentially impaired for coliforms, silver and lead. Gee Creek was included
on the 1998 303(d) list for coliforms, nutrients, and lead, but is potentially
impaired for coliforms and lead under the IWR. Sweetwater Creek and
Salt Creek, are potentially impaired for biology, while a segment of Howell
Creek has low DO impairment. Many small, shallow lakes lie within
the Lake Jesup planning unit. Twenty-eight of these lakes are potentially
impaired or verified impaired, primarily for nutrients.
Permitted Discharges and Land Uses
Point Sources. There are 21 total permitted point source dischargers
in the Lake Jesup planning unit. Of these, 11 are domestic wastewater
facilities, 7 are industrial wastewater facilities, 2 are concrete batch plants,
and 1 is a ground water treatment system at a petroleum contamination
site. Four of the facilities are permitted under NPDES.
Five of the 21 facilities are permitted to discharge more than
0.100 mgd. The largest discharge is the Seminole County Environmental
Services/Greenwood Lakes domestic wastewater facility, which is permitted
to release 3.500 mgd into Soldier Creek. Other major dischargers
include the Winter Springs East Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP)
(2.01 mgd), Winter Springs West WWTP (1.55 mgd), and Casselberry
WWTP (1.4 mgd). Three facilities are implementing a reuse plan, with at
least 1.08 mgd being discharged for reuse. The 3 facilities with reuse programs
are Florida Central Commerce Park, Winter Springs East WWTP,
and Winter Springs West WWTP. Appendix G lists, by planning unit,
the permitted dischargers in the basin.
Although there are no Superfund or state-funded hazardous waste
sites in the planning unit, there is one closed Class I solid waste landfill.
There are also two delineated ground water contamination areas under