The Suwannee River Water Management District’s (SRWMD) Middle Suwannee River and Springs Restoration and Aquifer Recharge project officially kicked off at Mallory Swamp on Thursday, Aug. 27. The project is designed to increase groundwater levels and restore natural spring flows along the middle Suwannee River in Lafayette and Dixie counties.

Officials from the SRWMD, Lafayette County, Dixie County and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, delegates of state senators and representatives, and local landowners descended on the Lafayette Forest Wildlife and Environmental Area for the project kickoff reception. SRWMD Interim Executive Director Carlos Herd welcomed the crowd and thanked everyone for attending, giving special thanks to the District’s partners in the project. The FWC, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Dixie County, Lafayette County, Hurst family, Land Timber and Cattle LLC, and Bascom Southern LLC in care of Campbell Group LLC all came together to support the project.

“We also appreciate the governor and legislature for appropriating historical levels of springs funding that has successfully leveraged local funding to achieve significant improvements for our springs,” Herd said. “It just shows an awareness of the importance of springs to Florida, especially to this area and our economy.”

Springs restoration is particularly important for the SRWMD, which contains the highest concentration of first magnitude springs in North America, Herd said.

For this project, the SRWMD will install hydraulic structures such as culverts, low-water crossings and flashboard risers in southeast Lafayette and northeast Dixie counties. SRWMD Senior Professional Engineer Brian Kauffman explained these structures will help restore natural water drainage patterns in a landscape that was previously altered decades ago to the detriment of local water supplies.

“The primary objective of this project is to increase natural recharge, to put the system back the way it was and to redirect that water back into the areas it used to go,” Herd explained. “This area was basically ditched and drained, and it diverted the water directly into the river, which basically sends it out to tide very quickly. This project was designed to slow that water down and put it back into those sand-bottom lakes.”

The SRWMD performed a similar restoration project in Mallory Swamp about a decade ago, and this new project will build upon prior construction. Approximately 110 flashboard risers and culverts will be constructed over the next three months in the region. The SRWMD is also installing a recharge well to collect stormwater or floodwater as an additional aquifer recharge source.

“What it will do is recharge the aquifer, slow the water down from getting to the river and provide natural flow to the springs and to the river itself, but in a slower process,” Herd continued. “It provides water for agriculture and other uses and for the natural systems. In a nutshell, that’s the purpose of this project and why we’re so excited about doing it.”

The project will recharge the aquifer with about 10 million gallons of water a day over about 1,500 acres of ponds and 4,000 acres of wetlands, according to SRWMD.

“This project is an exemplary type of the important water issues the Legislature appropriates funding towards,” commented Senator Charlie Dean (R-Inverness). “It restores flows to numerous springs, restores natural systems and helps with the local agriculture and domestic water supplies.”

Representative Elizabeth Porter (R-Lake City) stated, “Springs are vital to supporting north Florida’s economy and projects such as this essential to protect and restore our beautiful springs and natural systems.”

The $1.9 million project is funded with over $1.5 million from the DEP, $277,000 from the SRWMD, and $75,000 from Dixie County.