Interim report on surface water resources and quality of waters in Lee County, Florida Item Type monograph Authors Kenner, William E.; Brown, Eugene Publisher Florida Geological Survey Download date 06/10/2021 12:57:13 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/19395 STATE OF FLORIDA STATE BOARD OF CONSERVATION Ernest Mitts, Director FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Herman Gunter, Director INFORMATION CIRCULAR NO. 7 INTERIM REPORT ON SURFACE WATER RESOURCES AND QUALITY OF WATERS IN LEE COUNTY FLORIDA BY WILLIAM E. KENNER and EUGENE BROWN PREPARED BY U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY IN COOPERATION WITH THE FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN FLORIDA FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT Tallahassee, Florida 1956 CONTENTS Part I Surface Water Resources of Lee County, Florida ........... ................ 1 Part II Quality of Surface Waters of Lee County, F lorida ................... ........ 15 4240Mii PART I SURFACE WATER RESOURCES OF LEE COUNTY FLORIDA By William E. Kenner U. S. Geological Survey Prepared by the U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY In cooperation with the FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY and the CENTRAL and SOUTHERN FLORIDA FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT Tallahassee, Florida 1956 'II PREFACE This report was prepared in the Surface Water Branch of the U. S. Geological Survey under the direct supervision of A. 0. Patterson, District Engineer. Its preparation was made possible by the cooperation of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District, W. Turner Wallis, Secretary. Most of the basic water-resources data in this report have been collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in coopera- tion with the Corps of Engineers, the City of Fort Myers, the Florida Geological Survey, and the Florida Division of Water Survey and Research. Some data were furnished by the Corps of Engineers. vii i I., CONTENTS Page Introduction. ......................................... 1 Description of area ............................... 2 Clim ate .......................................... 2 Occurrence of surface water.................. ........ 2 Areal distribution................................. 7 Caloosahatchee River............................ 7 Orange River (Twelvemile Creek). ................ 8 .Imperial River............... .................. 8 Line-A Canal. .................................. 16 Still Lake...................................... 16 Stage stations ................................ 16 Tim e distribution ................................. 17 Basic data requirements ............................. 17 Appendix - Descriptions of gaging stations ............ 19 TABLES Table Page 1. Runoff of Orange River ......................... 13 2. Runoff of Imperial River.................. ........ 14 3. Runoff of Line-A Canal ................................ 15 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Map of Lee County, Florida, showing surface- water features ............. ........... ........... 3 2. Growth in population of Fort Myers ............... 4 3. Climatological data for Fort Myers .............. 5 4. Outflow from Lake Okeechobee .................. 6 5. Hydrograph of Orange River..................... 9 6. Flow-duration curve for Orange River near Fort M yers .............. ...................... 10 7. Maximum period of deficient discharge for Orange River near Fort Myers .................. 11 8. Flow-duration curve for Imperial River near Bonita Springs ............. ............... 12 9. Average runoff of Orange River near Fort M yers ......................................... 18 ix SURFACE WATER RESOURCES of LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA By William C. Kenner INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to provide such information on the surface-water resources of the county as maybe use- ful in planning for their more intensive use. This report is not intended to provide final answers to all questions con- cerning the occurrence of surface water in the county, be- cause of the paucity of information on the various streams in the area. However, as an initial step it should prove valuable in the formulation of plans for the future. To the author's knowledge, no similar report has been published, although much of the basic data used in this one have been released in publications of the U. S. Geological Survey and the U. S. Weather Bureau. This report is intended to give the best answers - that are presently available - to the following questions: 1. Where within Lee County are surface sup- plies of water located? 2. What are the variations in this supply? 3. What canbe done to provide better answers to questions 1 and 2 than are available at the present time? 2 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY DESCRIPTION OF AREA Lee County is on the west coast of peninsular Florida opposite the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee (see Fig. 1). It has a land area of 786 square miles, 35 percent of which is in farms. Tourist trade, agriculture, and commercial fish- ing are the main sources of income. Fort Myers, on the Ca- loosahatchee River and 13 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, is the principal city and the county seat. Its 1950 population was 13,195. Total population of the county was 23,404. The growth in population of Fort Myers since 1890 is shown in Figure 2. CLIMATE The average temperature at Fort Myers is 73.4 degrees. January is usually the coolest month, with an average of 63.8 degrees, and August the warmest with an average of 81.5 de- grees. Frost rarely occurs here. The average yearly rain- fall is 52.39 inches. Figure 3 shows the variations in tem- perature and rainfall. The subtropical climate of the area makes possible the growing of citrus fruits, tropical fruits, such as mangoes, papayas, and others, as well as truck and staple crops. OCCURRENCE OF SURFACE WATER The surface-water supplies in Lee County obtain from water falling as rain on its land surface and flowing into the lakes and streams; from surface streams bringing water into the county; and from water entering the county through under- ground formations and making its way to the surface. Of course, not all of the water entering the county is available for use since evaporation, transpiration, and seepage into the ground take a heavy toll. There are two essential factors to be considered in a study of the surface water of an area. One is the areal dis- tribution. In other words, at what geographic locations within the area are the supplies located? The second is the time distribution of the supplies, or, what is the day by day, month by month, or year by year variation in the amount of water occurring at the various locations? *CARLOTT COUNT .N v 0 F #a rm w,• Sz F r O Figure 1. Map of Lee County, Florida, showing surface water features. 12 z 10 0 0 Sw i. *0 in o m ii.it....... .... 0 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 Figure 2. Growth and population of Fort Myers. 5 1 1 1 1 125 " ' I I 33-YEAR RECORD I 33-YEAR RECORD MAXIMUM MAXIMUM I I I I I I I I I I . READIN z 100 15S - 75 A RE DINM AM I A .. .. ... ... 0 , 50 .... ,F- *I 6 . "11 c · I·· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Z ,eAVERAGE ·· ··. · ·· ·· ·· · · ·· · · ·· ·· ·· · · · ·· ·· ·· · · ·· ·· ·· ·· ·· · · ·· C 4 0 ·. WE· I .... 20 sell I n Q I Figure 3. Climatological data for Fort Myers. Goo ! T t Total of St. Lucie Canal, West Palm Beoch Canal, North New River Canol. Hillsboro Canal, and Coloosahatchee Canaol 500 400- -7 - r O < 300 z Q Galoosahatches Caog1 m a0 o I = 2000 I-l -00 JFMMJJASONDJFMAMJJAS SOND.JFMAMJJASNMA 0A JMAMJASNDJFMAMJJAS0NDMAMJJASONDJFMAN.JJAS0NDJFdAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONO 1941 194! 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 Figure 4. Outflow fromfrom1 Lake Okeechobee. INFORMATION CIRCULAR NO. 7-1 7 AREAL DISTRIBUTION The largest single source of surface water in Lee County is the Caloosahatchee River. It carries the water discharged into it from Lake Okeechobee through the locks at Moore Haven as well as the runoff from some 1500 square miles of land area between the Lake and the Gulf. The runoff from about 35 percent of the land area of Lee County moves to the Gulf via this stream. The principal tributaries to the Caloo- sahatchee River, as well as other streams in the county, and a general picture of the drainage pattern are shown on Figure 1. CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER For many years the Caloosahatchee River has been canal- ized at its upstream end and connected with Lake Okeechobee, and has served as one of two principal outlets from the Lake. The 15-mile portion of this stream between Lake Okeechobee and Ortona Lock is called Caloosahatchee Canal and the por- tion from Ortona Lock to the Gulf is called Caloosahatchee River. In October 1948, gages were installed on the Caloosa- hatchee River at Alva and Olga and daily stage records were obtained until their discontinuance in December 1950. The datum of eachof these gages was at mean sea level, datum of 1929. The flow was measured at Alva on October 1, 1948, and was 12,600 cubic feet per second. This extremely high flow came as a result of heavy rains accompanying a hurricane. Information from local residents indicates that the highest stages known occurred in 1924, reaching 13.3 feet at Alva and 8.2 feet at Olga. Records of the Corps of Engineers show the minimum stages known to have been 1.88 feet below sea level atAlva and 2.68 feet below sealevelat Olga. These occurred on October 18, 1944. Because in some years considerable water is released from Lake Okeechobee to flow down the Ca- loosahatchee Canal, ahydrograph showing the flow through the locks at Moore Haven for the years 1941 to 1950 has been in- cluded (Fig. 4). Not included in the values shown is the leak- age and lockage, which amounts to about 10 cubic feet per second. To indicate the total amount of water that may be available at Moore Haven, a hydrograph of the total flow out of Lake Okeechobee through all its outlets during the years 1941 to 1950 is also shown in Figure 4. I FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ORANGE RIVER (TWELVEMILE CREEK) Orange River is one of the larger tributaries to the Ca- loosahatchee River. It flows into the Caloosahatchee River from the south about 8 miles upstream from Fort Myers.