Problems run deep

While the ever-popular park is thriving, its infrastructure is in dire need of repairs. But that will take millions - and, some worry, will disturb the ambience of the lake.

[Times photos: Skip O'Rourke ] A cadre of cormorants adorns an old dead tree at the Medard Reservoir. The spot is popular with boaters, fishermen and people who like to look at the wildlife.

By JANET ZINK
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 11, 2003

DURANT -- On any given day, Edward Medard Park and Reservoir teems with people enjoying its recreational offerings.

Dale and Mary Alice Bradshaw, Ohio residents who spend winters in Plant City, say the 700-acre reservoir is one of their favorite places to cruise in their 16-foot motorboat.

"It's a beautiful place," Mrs. Bradshaw says. "We love the heron and the egret and all the animals that are there. We saw a mother heron nesting with two babies that look like they're ready to fly."

This aerial view shows the 1,284-acre park.

The Bradshaws are not alone in their love of the 1,284-acre park.

For the past 30 years, the Medard Reservoir has been popular for fishing, boating, camping and other outdoor pastimes. Nearly 692,000 people passed through its gates last year, making it the second most-used Hillsborough County park.

Now, the future of this bucolic spot has been called into question.

The aging components that make up the reservoir's infrastructure desperately need costly repairs to guarantee the safety of the people who live nearby. While water officials consider their options, residents and people who use the park wonder what the future holds for them.

A familiar sight to boaters are the alligators that make the reservoir their home.

Last week, the Alafia River Basin Board, confronted with the need to spend at least $2-million to update the facility, asked a consultant to study the costs of substantially modifying the reservoir, which provides the focal point for the park's recreational activities.

That worries the Bradshaws.

"What would happen to all that wildlife if it wasn't there?" Bradshaw asks.

Equally worried are residents who live downstream from the reservoir, located south of State Road 60 and east of Turkey Creek Road. They blame the reservoir for the unusually severe floods along the Alafia River late last year and in the first few days of 2003.

The reservoir is home to many breeding birds, fish and alligators. Sights like this great blue heron keep visitors coming back year after year.

Officials at the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which owns and operates the facility, say the reservoir had only a tiny impact on the most recent flooding.

A month of unseasonally heavy rains caused the problem, says Gary Kuhl, operations director of Swiftmud.

He points out that during the New Year's Day floods, water from rainfall sped down the Alafia River at 500,000 cubic feet per second. Only 300 cubic feet of that came from Medard Reservoir.

Still, Kuhl says, people living nearby could be in great danger if repairs aren't made to the infrastructure.

"Nobody feels there's an immediate hazard out there," Kuhl says. "It's just like maintaining your car. You can go along and go along and realize you have minor problems and if you let them go it's going to be something that's a major concern."

Medard Reservoir has not undergone any major improvements since its construction in 1970, and an emergency situation could arise within 10 years, Kuhl says.

Opening the flood gates

The reservoir is on the site of an old phosphate mine operated in the '50s and '60s by American Cyanamid Co. The company donated the land to Swiftmud in 1969. In 1970, the mine was excavated and a dike was built to hold water, creating the reservoir.

Gates control the outflow of water, but those remain closed almost all the time. Water collects until it reaches 60 feet, at which point it flows through holes in a concrete wall at its southern tip, into a stream and toward the Alafia River.

That happens several times during the rainy season. On the first day of 2003, the lake reached 62 feet.

Since 1972, when Hillsborough County developed the site as one its largest regional parks, it has functioned almost exclusively as a place for people to fish, boat, camp and otherwise relax. It has never supplied drinking water.

"I have fished there for years, and I love the place from a recreational point of view," says Gibsonton resident and Hillsborough County school district employee Bob Minthorn, the Basin Board member who raised the idea of changing the design of the reservoir. "But I don't know if having a good place to fish is worth spending lots and lots of money and putting people's lives at risk."

A cattle egret gathers material for its nest.

Already, Swiftmud has taken steps designed to allay the fears of Alafia River residents living in the shadow of the reservoir.

Last month, the agency installed a downstream river height gauge and began working with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on an early warning system to alert people along the river when flooding is likely to occur.

In late January, Switfmud opened the dam's 4-by-4-foot gate for the first time in six years to lower the reservoir's water levels in anticipation of the rainy season. It's now at about 57 feet.

Still, major repairs must be made.

Weighing the options

Swiftmud, which budgets less than $10,000 per year to maintain gauges, keep the grass mowed and inspect the site, hired Tampa consultants Kisinger Campo and Associates early last year to catalog and prioritize needed repairs.

That study was sparked by a federal law passed in the late '90s encouraging owners of dams and reservoirs to develop an emergency action plan in case of a structural failure. The creation of the plan and the events at the start of the new year underscored the need for improvements.

Dale Bradshaw, of Canfield, Ohio, is a regular winter visitor to Plant City. He and his wife, Mary Alice, love to boat and look at the wildlife that surrounds the water.

Kuhl estimates upgrades will cost $2-million, a bill that Swiftmud will have to pay.

The most costly repair, Kuhl says, will be fixing the eroding concrete bags that reinforce the earthen wall, known as a berm, along the western and southern perimeters of the reservoir. Also, the cement structure and pipes at the southern tip of the structure need to be replaced.

Sticker shock prompted the Alafia River Basin Board -- five volunteers appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to oversee some Swiftmud projects in the area -- to vote unanimously to ask the consultant to also determine the cost of reconfiguring the reservoir.

Minthorn says he doesn't want to drain the Medard Reservoir and turn it into a soccer field. But he'd like to explore the possibility of returning the land to a more natural state.

One possibility would be making the reservoir more shallow, expanding its area and removing the dike or leaving its gates open to allow water to flow continually into the river.

Kuhl says that option would also be costly because it would require the purchase of more land.

"There's probably not an easy low-cost solution to this," Kuhl says.

The goal, though, is to minimize long-term maintenance, he says.

The bucolic reservoir has come under scrutiny because of safety and flooding concerns.

"Nationally there is a pretty good move afoot to remove dams and restore the river flood plain back to its natural state," says Scott Stevens, an engineer with Kisinger Campo. "Some places that can be done, some places it can't."

County officials say they can't know the full impact reconfiguring the reservoir would have on the park's offerings until the consultants issue their report in June.

"If we don't have any water, it would obviously reduce our recreational activities at the park," says John Brill, a spokesman for Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation.

Stevens says if Swiftmud chooses to make major structural changes to the Medard Reservoir, it would need to consult with environmental agencies to determine the impact.

"Could you build some smaller fishing lakes behind what is now the berm?" Stevens asks. "Still have a recreational fishery out there and at the same time provide flood control and reduce liability? That might be a possibility."

-- Janet Zink can be reached at 661-2441 or jzink@sptimes.com .