Middle St. Johns - Florida Department of Environmental Protection

56 Water Quality Assessment Report: Middle St. Johns
Major Programs and Projects
A number of major restoration initiatives and activities related to water
quality protection, if continued, will have significant positive effects on the
basin’s water quality.
Middle St. Johns River Surface Water Improvement and
Management Plan
A SWIM Plan for the Middle St. Johns Basin was first completed and
approved by SJRWMD in 2002. The plan includes the Econlockhatchee
River, Deep Creek, Lake Jesup, Lake Monroe, and Wekiva River planning
units. It includes the portion of the St. Johns River from about Interstate 4
south through Lake Harney. A primary issue for the basin is the management
of stormwater. The source for material in this section is the Middle
St. Johns River Basin SWIM Plan (SJRWMD, 2002a).
When the Florida legislature created SWIM in 1987, it directed the
state’s water management districts to design and implement plans and
programs for the improvement and management of surface water (Section
373.451, F.S.). The purpose of the Middle St. Johns SWIM Plan is to set
forth a realistic course of action, identifying the projects and the effort
needed to accomplish them, consistent with levels of SWIM funding.
SWIM goals specific to the Middle St. Johns Basin are as follows:
Lacustrine
A lake or pertaining to lakes;
living or occurring on or in
lakes.
• To preserve natural and functional components of the ecosystem
while restoring, where feasible, such conditions to the degraded
portions of the system.
• To preserve, or where necessary restore, the quantity and quality
of water necessary to support thriving biological communities that
contain appropriate diversities of native species in the riverine and
lacustrine systems of the Middle St. Johns Basin.
• To pursue the development and implementation of stormwater
management plans for each of the tributaries in the middle basin.
SWIM goals can be met in the basin with the implementation of the
following four initiatives:
• Water quality enhancement emphasizing nutrient loading reduction
and lake protection.
• Watershed master planning emphasizing the completion of subbasin
hydrologic models. Strategies for implementation include partnering
with local governments to implement existing plans or to assist in the
design and development of master plans where none exist.
• Stormwater retrofitting of areas built before 1983. The strategy is to
design and implement a basinwide stormwater retrofit plan for the
middle basin. The SJRWMD initiated this strategy with the prioritization
of stormwater retrofits needs in the Lake Jesup watershed.
• Compliance and rule enforcement of existing permitted stormwater
systems.