Murphy gets closer look at Little Wekiva River disaster
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy on Wednesday toured the Little Wekiva River in west Seminole County with a group of residents to get a close look at the growing amount of sand and silt clogging and drying large areas of the once-pristine and popular waterway.
In a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last June, Murphy, D-Winter Park, called for a federal probe of the deteriorating conditions of the river and pointed out that residents and environmental advocates say the large-scale reconstruction of Interstate 4 — less than a football field’s length away from the Little Wekiva — is likely a main source of the sedimentation discharging into the river.
She has requested that the federal agency investigate the surrounding area for potential Clean Water Act violations.
“I think it’s important for us to find accountability, which is why we asked the EPA to look to see if any Clean Water Act violations existed and are part of the cause of this,” Murphy said to residents while standing on a dock overlooking the riverbed.
“But beyond finding accountability, we have to work on restoration. And my hope is that we can work from the local, state and federal levels, with everybody contributing resources so that we do have restoration.”
The Florida Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the 21-mile, $2.4 billion construction of I-4 through Seminole and Orange counties, has denied the highway project is the cause of the sedimentation.
The roughly 15-mile Little Wekiva starts flowing northward from north Orange County and meanders along its way to join the larger Wekiva River, just west of the Alaqua Lakes subdivision, in Seminole. The larger Wekiva River then flows north into the St. Johns River.
But as sediment has clogged the Little Wekiva in recent years, the water flow has redirected in several directions, creating flood risks and destroying native habitats, Murphy said.
In addition, the sand and silt have given invasive plants a fertile habitat for growth, thereby crowding out native vegetation.
Nearby residents, especially those who live off Markham Woods Road near Lake Mary, say the Little Wekiva was long a popular venue for canoeists and kayakers. But now long stretches of the river have dried and there is only a small trickle of water after a heavy rainstorm.
Murphy told residents that she is working on introducing a bill that would put the Little Wekiva on the National Wild and Scenic Rivers list.
“Once it’s on that [list], then it can be protected into perpetuity,” Murphy said. “The strategy is to find out what happened, address the current issue and then provide protection for the future.”
In July, Murphy secured $688,000 in a U.S. House funding bill to help remove sediment, recontour the river and replant the surrounding basin with beneficial native plants.