Lake Jackson Stormwater Investigation and Storm Drain Stenciling

Lake Jackson is a large, urban lake surrounded almost entirely by roads and urban development, which can place environmental pressures on surface water that must be addressed to maintain good water quality in the presence of development.  Water quality in Lake Jackson is currently quite good, in spite of the extensive development that has occurred in the watershed around the lake.  Stormwater is a special concern for urbanized lakes because the chemicals carried by stormwater enter many surface water bodies, including Lake Jackson, with little or no treatment.  Constituents of concern in stormwater include heavy metals, nutrients, pesticides, bacteria, and oils and greases.  Most of these constituents are derived from vehicles, which shed small amounts of chemicals and heavy metals as they are driven.  Metals and chemicals then lay on the road surface until a rainstorm washes them into storm drains, that then drain to the lake. 

Other problems are created when homeowners dump waste into drains, mistakenly thinking that the waste will be going to a treatment plant.  For this reason, our office has joined with Keep Highlands County Beautiful to stencil storm drains and paste placards on drains that read 'Dump no Waste, Protect Your Waters.'  These words are intended to educate the public concerning the fate of all things that are washed into storm drains.

Storm drains that drain into Lake Jackson on the east side of the lake, from the west side of downtown Sebring, generally enters the lake with no treatment - with the exception of stormwater that runs through the park at the City Pier, where there is a retention pond that allows many contaminants to settle out of the stormwater before entering the lake.   Drains along US 27 empty into retention areas under the roadway prior to entering the lake and therefore water draining from the highway on the west side of the lake is of better quality than untreated water entering the lake on the east and north.

A cooperative study was undertaken by Highlands County, the City of Sebring, and the Southwest Florida Water Management District to determine where stormwater is especially polluted, where the water enters the lake, where the water from each storm drain outlet originates, where remediation is necessary and what sort of remediation is economically and environmentally appropriate.  Stormwater and lake sediments were sampled and tested as part of the first phase of this study and reports concerning these findings are in the process of being written.  Consultants were contracted to identify subbasins and pipe locations in the Lake Jackson watershed.  Recommendations for remediation steps will occur when the nature of any problems that might exist are fully understood.  The City, County and SWFWMD are still in the process of assessing remediation steps.  The search for funding is currently underway.