Strategies to revive ailing lake revealed

By EDIE GROSS

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 28, 2000

SEMINOLE -- It seemed like a good idea at the time: With hydrilla clogging Lake Seminole, the state Fish and Game Commission in 1987 stocked the lake with grass carp, hoping the fish would eat all the pesky vegetation.

The fish did eat all the hydrilla -- and then went on to decimate every other form of plant life in the lake. Yet another unfortunate episode in the life and times of Lake Seminole.

Overgrown hydrilla and overzealous fish were not the first threats to the health of Pinellas County's second largest lake. During the past 50 years, stormwater carrying lawn fertilizer, motor oil, sewage and other harmful chemicals has washed into the lake, clogging its bottom with silt and damaging its ecosystem.

County engineers and environmental consultants say they think they can reverse that trend, improving the water quality and once again making the lake a viable fishery.

Now they want to know what residents think of their $11.1-million proposal to clean the 684-acre lake and manage the 3,500-acre watershed that surrounds it.

County officials and the Tampa firm of Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan, which spent three years writing the report, will organize meetings with the cities of Seminole and Largo and a public meeting for residents, probably by the end of the summer.

On Tuesday, the firm's Doug Robison showed Pinellas County commissioners an abbreviated version of the Lake Seminole Management Plan. The document is as thick as a telephone book.

"Sometimes this lake looks like pea soup," Robison said, showing a photo of the lake's green water. "It's in very bad condition, and it's getting worse."

Suggestions for fixing the lake include:

Eliminate pollutants from stormwater by treating the runoff before it enters the lake.

Dredge 930,000 cubic yards of sediment from the lake's bottom and shoreline.

Get rid of exotic plants in Lake Seminole Park on the lake's eastern edge.

Remove such nuisance fish as carp and shad and replace them with bass, catfish and other sport fish. Adopt ordinances that control street sweeping, lawn cutting and fertilizer application in the surrounding 3,500 acres that drain into the lake.

Restrict where and how fast boats and other personal watercraft can go in the lake to promote fish habitats and reduce the amount of silt stirred up.

The cleanup plan stretches over five years, but officials say if the lake responds well to early efforts, the later ones may not be needed.

The county has committed $5-million to the project as has the Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Swiftmud. The county also will seek grants to cover the remaining $1.1-million.

The total annual recurring cost to maintain the lake and hire new staffers to help is estimated at $536,000, most of which would probably be absorbed by the county.

The study estimates that the lake annually brings $16.1-million to the county through recreational uses and property values.

David Talhouk, a county engineer overseeing the lake restoration project, said the full benefits of the cleanup may not be realized for years to come. But, he said, it is exciting to have some solutions on paper.

"People need to remember this lake has been in a state of degradation over the last 50 years," he said. "We can't fix it overnight."

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