HYDROGEOLOGY: THE DEMAND FOR WATER
Following completion of the rehydration project, wet season storms now routinely fill the wetlands, and the reduction in drainage from the wetland allows base flow to reduce the rate of stage decline during the dry season. Hydrographs similar to the one near P5AWare recorded for the other wetlands. Surficial aquifer water levels stay consistently high, with few periods of very low water levels.
Conclusion – a team effort
Ecologists and soil scientists hired by the City of Lakeland examined the NE wellfield wetlands and determined that the wetlands had been subject to altered hydroperiods for a very long time. Hydrogeologists determined that the soils, geological conditions, and aquifer hydraulic properties were not consistent with rapid leakage of water from wetlands; and identified more recent pine plantations as one of several pos- sible alterations to the NE wellfield property that could account for significant changes in wetland hydrology. Stormwater hydrologists and engineers evaluated historical conditions to design a restoration plan based on restoring predevelopment wetland isolation or reduced connectedness, with removal of planted pines and recontouring of uplands catchments to overland flow of water to wetlands. Based on the proposed restoration plan, in 2008, the City was issued a 20-year WUP by the SWFWMD for the NE wellfield, which provides the City with the ability to extend the permit for an additional 10 years with a simple letter request. This type of extension could only be obtained by demonstrating a positive environmental impact using the direct hydrologic data collected since construction of the NE wellfield.
References
Budd, D.A., and
H.L.Vacher, 2004, Matrix permeability of the confined Floridan Aquifer, Florida, USA. Hydrogeology Journal 12(5):531- 549.
DRMP, 1990. Consultant’s report – Well Construction and Aquifer Testing at Proposed Lakeland Northeast Wellfield Site. DRMP, Orlando, FL
HAI, 2002. Consultant’s report – Aquifer Testing and Analysis at the Lakeland Northeast Wellfield. HAI, Orlando, FL
Grubb, H.F., 1977. Potential for the downward leakage to the Floridan aquifer, Green Swamp area, central Florida: U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations 77-21, Map.
Fernald, E.A. and E.D. Purdum, 1998. Water Resources Atlas of Florida. Institute of Science and Public Affairs, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 319p.
McDonald, M.G. and A.W. Harbaugh, 1988. A modular three-dimen- sional finite-difference ground-water flow model, Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations 06-A1, USGS, 576p.
Mitsch, W.J., Gosselink, J.G., 1986. Wetlands. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 539p.
Peterson, R.A., 2007. Aquifer performance test at the Lakeland north- east well field in Polk County, Florida, Southwest Florida Water Management District, Report 03-2.
Prickett, T. A and C.G. Lonnquist, 1971. Selected Digital Computer Techniques for Groundwater Resources Evaluation, Illinois State Water Survey, Bulletin 55, 62p.
Rosenau, J.C., G.L Faulkner, C.W. Hendry, Jr., and R. W. Hull, 1977. Springs of Florida. Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 31, 458p.
Continued on p. 41
Figure 7 - Piezometer P5AW hydrograph for period of record. Hydrograph illustrates improvement in wetland storage and period of inundation beginning after completion of wetland rehydration project in 2012.
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