By Bryan Nelson

I would like to thank our streets and stormwater team for their execution in staging the pumps at Border, Jackson, McDade, Piedmont, Blue and Page lakes in order to draw down the lakes.  

I would also like to give a big shout out to the United Rental team that was on call 24/7 to make sure that every pump was running at maximum efficiency. More than once they came out after hours to clean out the pumps.  

Their pump stations had automatic turn-on and shut-off controls to eliminate problems such as burning up a pump and flooding the retention ponds. We have reduced the lake levels on all four lakes by over one foot of water, which translates into over 23 million gallons of water being removed from the Border Lake/Lake Cortez basin.  

We are lowering the lakes to the minimum levels that are included in our St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) permit, which is the level that won’t create any undue harm to these waterbodies.  

We are monitoring the lake levels daily to see what impact rain and the pumping has on the lake levels in order to be more prepared for the next rain event.  

As of Tuesday morning, July 1, we have pumped approximately 1,786,100 gallons into the drainage well at Lake Page. What we don’t know is how much water is seeping up from the ground and refilling our lakes.  

By keeping accurate data, hopefully, we will have a better handle on this. Groundwater pressure helps with keeping adequate water pressure in Wekiva and Rock Springs—two of the most important springs in Central Florida.  

Just as a point of reference, Wekiva Springs produces 43 million gallons of water a day and Rock Springs produces 37.4 million gallons a day. We must protect our springs, which means that the area around Wekiva and Rock Springs must percolate to the aquifer at least 80 million of gallons just to maintain these two springs—and that doesn’t include the many smaller springs in this basin.  

Now we are pivoting to the long-term plan that will give us extra lake water to supplement our reclaimed water needs. Last year, we pulled 317 million gallons out of the ground, and just in the month of April 2025, we pulled 102 million out of the ground to satisfy the needs of our residents in Apopka.