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Lake Jesup
Lake Jesup — a large, shallow lake in Seminole County — and its floodplain cover approximately 16,000 acres in central Florida. Lake Jesup was once a thriving water body, attracting thousands of recreational boaters and anglers each year. Over the years, bald eagles, manatees, ibises, wood storks and sandhill cranes have made Lake Jesup their home.
While connected to the St. Johns River, the river does not naturally flow through the entire lake. In the early 1900s, modifications were made to the St. Johns River’s channel, reducing the water exchange between the lake and river. Also, portions of Lake Jesup’s large floodplain were diked and ditched, further restricting the lake’s circulation. Lake Jesup is connected to the St. Johns River by only a single outlet channel.
Cypress trees stand along the shore of Lake Jesup.
Challenges
Water quality in Lake Jesup has degraded over the decades due to the restriction of water movement, wastewater discharges and the increase in nutrient runoff from its urbanized watershed. The restricted water exchange lessened the natural flushing and cleaning of the lake, while the excessive nutrient runoff fueled the growth of algae. Urban storm water from Orange and Seminole counties, and the cities of Orlando, Winter Park, Eatonville, Maitland, Oviedo, Winter Springs and Sanford, along with agricultural runoff from adjacent area farms, contribute to the impacts to the lake. Even with the removal of all the effluent from sewage treatment plants in 1983, the amount of nutrients flowing into the lake has remained too high. The decades of enrichment have led to the accumulation of deep, nutrient-rich sediments that continue to degrade habitat quality, causing reduced sport fish populations.
Finding solutions
An American alligator swims in Lake Jesup.
The St. Johns River Water Management District and many individuals and government entities are involved in helping Lake Jesup, including representatives from federal, state, regional, county and city governments; environmental advocacy groups and homeowner associations. One such group — The Friends of Lake Jesup — was created by the Florida Legislature under the Lake Jesup Act in 1994 to assist the District in evaluating the lake’s needs and possible enhancements. By law, this Act ended in 1998, but many people still actively work toward the lake’s restoration.
The Lake Jesup Interagency Restoration Strategy provides clear goals and action steps for the lake’s restoration. The strategy offers a phased approach and identifies specific restoration milestones to be used to trigger implementation of additional work, as necessary, to ensure that the overall goal of returning Lake Jesup to Class III (fishable and swimmable) standards based on state water quality criteria. The strategy introduces several regional projects to address the improvement of water quality in Lake Jesup.
The District also works closely with stakeholders and local governments in meeting the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) total maximum daily load (TMDL) nutrient goals and Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) allocations.
The District has completed multiple efforts that include:
- Purchased floodplain areas to restore water flow to these lands, beginning in 1984 in coordination with Seminole County and other agencies. These purchases provide public recreation land and also maintain animal habitat, improve water quality, and allow for the storage of large volumes of water during rainy periods to offer flood protection for surrounding communities.
- Increased monitoring, modeling and diagnostic studies to enhance the understanding of the condition of Lake Jesup. The District conducts monthly water quality sampling at eight sites and coordinates with Seminole County to monitor lake levels and water quality during storms. Many diagnostic studies have been completed, including mapping the lake bottom and its sediments and evaluating the role of the sediments in the lake.
- Removed several miles of agricultural berms to reconnect 3,682 acres of floodplain wetlands with the lake. The lake’s floodplain acts as a kidney for the lake, as wetlands filter particulates from the lake and help absorb the lake’s nutrient pollution. The berm removal also increases the lake's ability to store floodwater and provide valuable habitat for plants and animals dependent on a wetland environment.
- Built partnerships to develop regional stormwater treatment facilities. Through cost-sharing with the District, many of the local governments in the Lake Jesup subbasin have embarked on an aggressive stormwater management program to upgrade existing systems or to implement multi-functional water quality treatment solutions, working to reduce the direct discharge of storm water to the lake system.
- Furthered planning efforts to investigate multiple alternative treatment systems to utilize state-of-the-art technologies. One of the newest projects is an innovative approach in which a private company funds and operates a process to remove nutrients from the lake, with the District paying per pound of total phosphorus removed from the lake based on a pre-negotiated price — also known as “pay for performance.”
Lake Jesup is drenched in bright sunlight at sunrise.
Another benefit to the lake was a decision by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to upgrade SR 46. FDOT in 2009 completed the reconstruction of an elevated bridge that spans over the historic wetlands. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is investigating how to reconnect the river channel to improve Jesup’s health. The potential effects of changes to the lake’s circulation, biological health, wildlife habitat, sediment transport and impacts to residents and businesses in the area are being evaluated by USACE.
Contact information
For more information about Lake Jesup, contact Mary Brabham, basin program manager, at (407) 659-4829 or mbrabham@sjrwmd.com.
Updated on 5-14-2010
