TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Spring Rejuvenation

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: November 4, 2008

WEEKI WACHEE - The mermaid stage is in the middle of a makeover.
The Weekiwachee River springhead is the target of a half-million dollar restoration project to remove debris and algae and to replant the natural botanical bounty that will help keep the water clean.
It's an effort by the Southwest Florida Water Management District to get the springs looking like they did six decades ago, when the first mermaid performer dipped a tail into the 72-degree water.
"We're trying to restore this area to the way it was," Veronica Craw, an environmental section manager for Swiftmud, said Monday as she surveyed the spring from an observation deck.
A few minutes earlier, as mermaids prepared for a photo shoot inside the underwater amphitheater, divers on the other side of the glass sifted through the silt and loaded detritus into a bag to be hoisted out by a small crane on a barge floating above their heads.
It's the detritus that has collected over the last 60 years and more: a couple pieces of moldy plywood, chunks of cinderblock, a 20-foot-long rusty pole. At one point divers uncovered a David-like statue, a mermaid show prop that had apparently been covered for years.
As the divers worked, their fins sank deep into the main target of the cleanup.
Lyngbya is a so-called nuisance algae that grows quickly, its seaweed-like tentacles blanketing the spring walls and floor like a shag carpet. The algae chokes off natural vegetation that should be thriving in the spring and filtering out nutrients to keep the water clear.
Divers will use a massive vacuum system to suck out an estimated 6,100 cubic yards of accumulated algae and sediment — enough to fill more than 600 dump trucks. A system of pumps will push the muck under State Road 550 and into a borrow pit in Weeki Wachee Preserve, a large swath of district-owned land.
The project also targets the banks of the spring and upper river. Workers have already chopped down and hauled away much of the overgrowth that had stifled the shoreline.
Once the removal phase is complete, the district's contractor, Oklawaha Farms Inc. of Miami, will replant native plants such as eelgrass and strap-leg sagittaria that once dominated the springs and its banks.
The whole complexion of the spring is about to change, said Denise Tenuto, environmental coordinator for Swiftmud's resource management department. The water's greenish hue will give way to the spring's natural tint.
"It will have a beautiful blue color to it," she said.
"This is something we've been looking forward to for a long time," said Weeki Wachee Springs spokesman John Athanason, who sported his new green uniform. Weeki Wachee Springs officially became a state park on Saturday.
The performers who spend a lot of time underwater will appreciate the difference, said head mermaid Marcy Terry as she watched divers flutter by.
"It's going to be awesome," Terry said.
The project will wrap up in a few weeks. The total cost is a little more than $515,000, funded by the state's Water Management Lands Trust Fund.
The district will monitor the springs for a year and use the data and experience gleaned here when it tackles a similar effort at Chassahowitzka Springs.
Residents can do their part to keep the spring clean, Tenuto said. Lyngbya feeds on nutrients found in fertilizer that flows off lawns and into storm water. Homeowners who live miles away can help the spring by putting the minimum amounts of fertilizer on their lawns.
"It's all about education," she said.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT