4-minute read
Some of Lakeland’s most popular lakes are about to get cleaner, thanks to a trio of projects unanimously approved by the City Commission on Tuesday.
Lake Morton, Lake Mirror and Lake Hollingsworth are among nine of the city’s 38 named lakes with significant water quality challenges. All nine are over the “maximum daily load” of nutrients like phosphorus allowed by state law.
These nutrients are essential to life. But too many cause invasive species and algae to overgrow — making water murky, blocking sunlight, depriving fish of oxygen and sometimes posing health risks to humans.
The three projects approved Tuesday use different approaches to improve the lakes’ water quality.
Lake Morton: The city has been awarded $994,400 by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for a two-year test of a nutrient-removal system developed by Surface Water Infrastructure Group.
Three mobile pumps will distribute water over a 927-square-foot bed of native plants and filtering material set up on the west shore of Lake Morton near Louise Place.
Water will flow vertically through an upper layer that binds phosphorus and a lower layer that removes nitrogen. Treated water will be collected in underdrain pipes and returned to the lake. Besides the pumps that transport the water, the system is entirely passive.
Commissioner Stephanie Madden applauded the city’s Lakes and Stormwater division for “always looking for grant opportunities to try new products.”
“Some will be successful. Some might not be,” Madden said. “But when you have a grant to do it and it’s a piloted small demonstration project, hopefully one of these — or a couple of these — will be so remarkably useful that we’ll be able to use them in all of our lakes.”
Lake Mirror: Six basins that release stormwater into Lake Mirror will be retrofitted with custom baskets to capture sediment, trash and organic debris. The baskets will also be equipped with patented FabPhos media cartridges to filter phosphorus and nitrogen from water.
The project’s primary goal is to “curb algal growth, improve water clarity, enhance light penetration and encourage the growth of beneficial aquatic plants,” according to a city news release.
The work is expected to be complete by November 2026. A grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will cover the $368,852 cost.
Lake Hollingsworth: The commission approved spending $911,230 to treat Lake Hollingsworth with a clay product called EutroSORB-G by Montreal-based environmental engineering firm WSP.
The city tested the product on Crystal Lake earlier this year.
Laurie Smith, manager of the city’s Lakes and Stormwater division, explained that up to 90% of the phosphorus load in the city’s lakes comes from sediment “flux” or recirculation.
EutroSORB-G works by trickling through the water column, binding to phosphorus and bringing it down to the lake bed, where it forms a fine layer over the sediment.
The contract approved Tuesday is for the first of three recommended annual treatments. But Smith said it’s a fraction of what traditional sediment treatments would cost.
A dredging project from 1997 to 2000 removed 2.9 million cubic yards of muck from Lake Hollingsworth at a cost of about $15 million.
‘Is that the worst lake?’
Toward the end of the meeting, community leader Lorenzo Robinson approached the microphone and asked how the lakes were selected.
“We’re trying to revitalize Lake Hollingsworth. But is that the worst lake that’s here in Lakeland?” Robinson asked. “Or is that one that’s in the neighborhood…”
Mayor Bill Mutz interjected, “I hear what you’re saying. The revitalization of lakes is based on contamination … All the lakes are graded.”
Mutz explained that the city’s most polluted lake is Lake Bonnet, which is undergoing a $42.9 million remediation project funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
That project is in the final stages of design and will take about three years. It will involve restoring wetlands, dredging 18 feet of sediment and developing flood mitigation systems.
Coming soon: A big-picture overview
Commissioner Chad McLeod said that although the commission focuses on one grant or contract at a time during meetings, there are dozens of projects in various stages of completion across the city’s lakes.
“On Friday, we asked for an overall reminder for us of all of the lakes and what we’re doing throughout the city,” McLeod said.
City staff will make a presentation at an upcoming meeting.
latest news
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
A major aid would be to eliminate the dog poop around the lakes. The swan and bird poop is a high nitrogen load, we don’t need the dogs addng more.