Lake Tohopekaliga—An Alternative Approach to Total Maximum Daily Loads

Abstract

Lake Tohopekaliga is a 22,000 acre lake located within Osceola County in Central Florida. Lake Tohopekaliga has a long history of management activities that have altered the lake's natural hydrology and water quality over time. The lake was placed on the State of Florida’s List of Impaired Waters in November, 2010 for nutrients. Osceola County and the City of Kissimmee initially disagreed with the assessment through their own independent analysis. As a result, since Lake Tohopekaliga is a macrophyte dominated lake (i.e., Hydrilla), the State of Florida acknowledged the assessment and was willing to re-consider the listing based on a macrophyte impairment and not develop a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the lake. As part of the agreement with the State, the City and the County would need to provide assurance that proactive nutrient reductions (source controls) are taking place within the watershed while the lake dynamics are better understood and appropriate water quality targets can be developed. This paper describes the proactive process local stakeholders elected to develop a Nutrient Reduction Plan in order to satisfy the State of Florida’s request. This decision allows lake interests and managers to avoid a reactive regulatory process (i.e., a TMDL) and to work towards solving the question of how water quality fits into the overall management of this lake. BACKGROUND As part of the overall responsibilities of the state, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has evolved a watershed approach to the identification and restoration of impaired waters. Each major watershed in Florida is assigned a group depending on priority and location in the state. To assess each watershed, the state follows a “basin rotation” process with five steps: