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TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today
announced adoption of the Orange Creek Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP), a
roadmap to restoring and protecting water quality in the Orange Creek Basin. The
action plan was developed in partnership with the City of Gainesville, Marion
and Alachua Counties, the St. Johns River Water Management District, Alachua
County Health Department, University of Florida, Gainesville Regional Utilities,
private silviculture interests and other local and state stakeholders.
Orange Creek is a tributary of the Ocklawaha River. Implementation of the
plan will benefit surface waters in Alachua and Marion Counties, including
Orange Lake, Lochloosa Lake, Newnans Lake, Tumblin Creek, Sweetwater Branch,
Hogtown Creek, Lake Wauberg, Paynes Prairie/Alachua Sink, and the Ocklawaha
River.
“The Orange Creek Basin Management Action Plan represents an exceptionally
strong collaboration among local, regional, and state agencies, elected
officials, citizens, and private interests,” said DEP Deputy Secretary Mimi
Drew. “Together we have committed to a concrete set of actions to reduce
pollution in the streams, rivers, and lakes throughout the basin.”
In 2003, DEP adopted water quality restoration targets, called Total Maximum
Daily Loads (TMDLs). The TMDLs establish the amount of reduction of nutrients
that is needed to protect or restore the lakes and Alachua Sink, and the amount
of reduction of fecal coliform bacteria that is needed to protect or restore
streams in the basin. The TMDLs help stakeholders evaluate and identify local
actions to control these pollutant discharges. The action plan lists the steps
that must be taken, a schedule for their implementation, and potential resources
to accomplish them.
The Orange Creek BMAP was developed under DEP’s comprehensive approach to
identify polluted waterways and build partnerships with local, regional and
state interests to return them to better condition. Through a science-based
program, DEP determined that seven of the waterbodies in the Orange Creek Basin
did not meet Florida’s water quality standards and needed action plans. High
levels of nutrients in the lakes caused an imbalance in the native plant, fish
and wildlife communities. Furthermore, high levels of fecal coliform bacteria in
the creeks were in violation of state water quality standards.
Actions called for in the BMAP include better identification and remediation
of sources of fecal coliform in creeks and nutrient discharges to lakes and
Alachua Sink, continued improvement in stormwater treatment and control
programs, better stormwater controls for active agricultural and commercial
forest lands, more stringent local ordinances to control pollution, and an
ongoing program of public and private education.
For more information about DEP’s water quality protection and restoration
programs visit
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/tmdl/index.htm.
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2012 State of Florida