Introduction

Figure 1 Plan view of the site showing the relative locations of the internal cells. Click on picture for larger image.

The City of Lakeland (City) operates a 1,400 acre wetland treatment system located just |east of the town of Mulberry, Florida. The wetland system serves as the final treatment process for the City of Lakeland's 10.8 mgd Glendale Wastewater Treatment Plant and their 4.0 mgd Northside Wastewater Treatment Plant. These treatment plants serve a combined population of approximately 79,000 people within the city limits, as well as portions of the unincorporated areas of Polk County.

Many of the natural upland and wetland communities within Polk County and the surrounding counties have been replaced by agricultural and industrial development. Citrus and phosphate mining industries have altered the landscape around Lakeland to a greater extent than any other development activity. The phosphate mines have provided the most dramatic changes to the lands in Polk County by not only eliminating the natural ecosystems, but also by significantly altering the topographic nature of these areas.

Restoration efforts within most of the abandoned mine sites have been limited in scope at best, since no real efforts generally are made to restore the original topography and vegetative communities. Instead, upland areas are normally replanted as monoculture pine forests, while most aquatic areas are comprised of lakes formed in unfilled mine pits. Most emergent wetland communities are restricted to the littoral zones of the lakes or are usually dominated by monoculture stands of cattails (Typha spp.) and/or Carolina willow (Salix caroliniana).

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URL: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/construc/lakeland/16intro.html
Revised October 5, 1998