Divers Down!
Yes we have divers in the water and the restoration project is underway. HRRP finally received our last and final permit from Army Corp on Monday October 19th and had crews working on the land based dewatering site that very afternoon. The dewatering site is where all of the heavy lifting is done. It may not be the glamorous part of the operation or make for pretty pictures but it is an essential part of the project. It is here where decades of accumulated muck, organic solids, and live Lyngbya is filtered out. The crystal clear water then returned to the river.
Dewatering Site
This is a brief overview of our worksite. For a detailed explanation of the how we clean the water click here.
Due to a lack of usable land on the river itself we must pump approximately 5000 feet to the dewatering site. That is a lot of pipe! The site is located on an empty lot behind the Bella Oasis Hotel on the corner of S.R.19 and Halls River Rd. When the debris and Lyngbya filled water finally reaches our site it first enters a settlement tank.
This does exactly as the name implies. The heavier materials settle to the bottom where they can be removed with a backhoe. The water and remaining lighter solids and floating Lyngbya flow out the top into a second container. It is at this point in the process that a polymer is added to the water.
The amount of polymer added depends upon the amount of suspended material in the water. The polymers bind to the solids and help us remove them from the river water. The water, now mixed with polymers is placed in huge GeoTubes.
The clean clear water filters out leaving the solids and Lyngbya behind. The water is now returned to the river.
What Next?
Our next post will concentrate on the the divers and the vacuuming being done on the river bottom, the area we are currently working, and our progress during the first full week in operation. For more information check out the other articles on this website as well as our Homosassa River Restoration Project Inc. organization site here.