Lake's changes draw attention

Several wells will be used to help figure out how much septic tanks are affecting Lake Tarpon.

[Times photo: Brendan Fitterer] Gus Vogel, 75, works on a lift recently at Lake Tarpon Mobile Home Village. He and his friends regularly sail boats on Lake Tarpon.

By ROBERT FARLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 27, 2000

PALM HARBOR -- The county has secured grants to install a series of wells around Lake Tarpon to determine how much of the lake's rising nutrient level can be blamed on private septic systems in the area.

If the nutrient level continues to rise as it has over the past decade, county officials said, it could threaten fish populations at the renowned bass fishing haven.

The wells will be monitored for a year and if results show the septic tanks are contributing significantly to rising nutrient levels, area homeowners may be forced to hook into a central public sewer system. How much that might all cost has not yet been determined.

There are more than 1,000 private septic systems in the area around Lake Tarpon. Most are at older homes northwest and north of the lake. The majority are in the city of Tarpon Springs.

When the county began studying the quality of the lake in the 1980s it was an extremely good fishing lake, and still is, said Don Moores, the division administrator for the county's Environmental Resources Management Division. But over the course of the past decade, he said, the nutrient level has dramatically increased to a point at which the nature of the lake could change. On an index used to gauge the lake's nutrient level, the lake's score is hovering at about 59. The target level is between 50 and 55, Moores said.

Some nutrients are necessary to support fish and aquatic plants, but too much creates a lake "so pea green it would be disgusting," Moores said. If that were to happen, Moores said, bass would no longer thrive and trash fish like shad would take over.

Preliminary tests indicated 11.5 percent of the nitrogen level and 14 percent of the phosphorus load in the lake come from private septic tanks, said Don Hicks, an environmental specialist for the county. Those tests were more general in nature and were estimates, he said.

The new tests are needed, Moores said, before millions of dollars are spent putting in public sewers. Already, Tarpon Springs officials have begun studies toward installation of a central sewer system to serve the area.

The monitoring wells should help county environmental officials to pinpoint more accurately the sources of nutrients feeding Pinellas County's largest lake. For example, it will indicate how much of the nutrients are coming from lawn fertilizers and a variety of other sources.

Some sources, like the nutrients that come from the air, cannot be controlled. Other sources, like those from stormwater runoff, can be partially solved by digging retention ponds. The nutrients coming from private septic tanks can be solved absolutely, Hicks said, if those homeowners connect to public sewers.

The county plans to install 23 monitoring wells. Officials also hope to get permission to use another nine existing private wells.

The cost of the well project is $108,500.

The county will pay $55,000 of that over the next two years and the Southwest Florida Water Management District will pick up the rest.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright