Project Highlight: Ocala Wetland Groundwater Recharge Park
This exciting project for the City of Ocala is a 60-acre parcel located next to the Pine Oaks Golf Course with existing oak canopies, lined irrigation ponds, trails, and grassy fairways. The Wetland Groundwater Recharge Park’s goal is to preserve existing oak canopy, transform the ponds into deep marshes, and convert the fairways to wetlands. Petticoat Schmitt Project Managers, Jason Plauche and Lauren Bedford, Project Engineer, Jordan Thurston were the team building this project with remarkable client support from City of Ocala. Collaborating with the City’s Project Managers, Jimmy Lopez and Richard Castillo, this park will be create a wetland ecosystem, improve water quality, and boost regional groundwater supplies. The design includes a rapid infiltration basins that will replenish the Floridian Aquifer faster than current natural rates. The Wetland Groundwater Recharge Park has three ponds with varying depths, equipped with plants that will help further filter the treated water before it returns to the upper Floridian aquifer. The City currently pumps treated water from water reclamation facilities to parks, golf courses, residential areas and spraying fields to provide irrigation. The two city facilities, which receive residential and industrial sewage water, treat an average of 5 million gallons of water a day. The Wetland Groundwater Recharge Park will accept water currently pumped to spraying fields. The park’s future site has a daily recharge rate and is expecting 3 million and 5 million gallons of water pass through it each day. By replenishing a portion of the water the city removes from the aquifer will help Ocala continue to grow and develop. #PSCC#ibuildamerica#constructionappreciationweek
