BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A St. Johns River Water Management District director said the testing results for water coming from the Black Creek Water Resource Development Project’s treatment plant ‘looks promising.’
The Black Creek Water Resource Development Project is designed to recharge the Upper Floridan aquifer and raise the water levels of Lakes Brooklyn and Geneva. It is part of the lakes’ recovery plan, which helps the district comply with regulatory minimum flows and levels.
Dale Jenkins, the district’s director of the Division of Infrastructure and Land Resources, told the governing board during its March 11 meeting that the project is virtually complete, except for the treatment plant, which is designed to remove the creek’s brown tannins.
He added that water quality testing coming from the facility within Camp Blanding looks good.
“The color is being removed according to the water quality criteria,” he said. “That water quality criterion is being met as well as turbidity. But we still have some more rinsing to do, so we’re going to continue that process until it gets to the point where we can move that water into Alligator Creek.”
The director added that of the treatment plant’s six cells, one is complete, and another is being filled with media. Cell 3 has been lined and is ready to receive treatment media, and Cells 4, 5, and 6 are being lined.
“If everything goes according to schedule and the weather cooperates,” he said, “the liner will be in cells 4, 5 and 6 by the beginning of April.
