Winter Haven adopts 2024 annual lakes report; city awarded $360,000 DEP grant for Bridal Basin work

The Winter Haven City Commission on July 2025 adopted the city’s 2024 annual lakes report and approved the accompanying resolution after a presentation from the natural resources division. The report evaluates water quality, hydrology and ecology across 37 monitored lakes and recommends targeted management actions for several priority basins.

Why it matters: The annual report supplies the Commission and the public with a data-driven basis for lake management, prioritizes limited funds and helps qualify Winter Haven for state grants and cooperative projects with Polk County and the Lakes Region Lakes Management District.

City staff and the Lakes Advisory Committee presented the findings. “This report . . . gives a thorough and comprehensive review of our lakes and focuses on water quality, hydrology, and ecology,” Dustin Everett of the natural resources division told the commission. Devon Moore, senior environmental scientist, described the city’s metrics: “We focus on three main categories of metrics. These include water quality, hydrology, and ecology.”

What the report found: City staff said 20 of the 37 monitored lakes (54%) met Florida’s regulatory thresholds for nutrients in 2024, unchanged from the prior year but part of a longer-term improving trend. Staff noted 27 lakes (73%) scored in the report’s “good to very good” range on the city’s lake health index, with one lake (Lake Bridal) rated poor. The presentation listed Lakes Conine, Deere, Fanny, Otis and Rochelle as formerly impaired waterbodies that now meet regulatory standards.

Priority actions and funding: Staff outlined ongoing management actions including increased hydrologic monitoring (additional surface-level sensors, plans for more rainfall and groundwater stations), rain-garden construction, aquatic-plant restoration projects and targeted street‑sweeping in watersheds that drain to at-risk lakes. Officials said the city completed the NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) report and provides annual aquatic-plant mapping and monitoring.

The commission heard that Winter Haven was awarded a $360,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to perform stormwater improvements in the Lake Bridal basin; staff said the grant and planned sediment inactivation and stormwater projects are expected to address legacy nutrient loads in Bridal.

Questions from commissioners addressed how lakes are chosen for monitoring. Staff explained they prioritize publicly accessible lakes, lakes that receive city stormwater, and lakes for which state funding eligibility exists; private lakes without public access typically are not eligible for state-funded programs. Commissioners asked about options for expanding monitoring to additional lakes; staff said expanding study coverage is limited by public-access rules, permitting and budget.

Commission direction and vote: Staff recommended adoption of Resolution R-25-36, approving and adopting the 2024 annual lakes report. A commissioner moved to approve the resolution; the motion carried and the commission adopted the lakes report by voice vote. No amendment or defeat was recorded.

Context and next steps: Staff said the full report (more than 300 pages) and a 12-page “report in brief” are available on the city website and a web app version is online. The natural resources team recommended focusing near-term efforts on Lake Bridal, Lake Hamilton and Hartridge (declining trends) and on Lakes Albert and Martha (trending downward but not yet impaired). Staff also noted work with Polk County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District on coordinated hydrologic monitoring and invasive species control.

Commissioners praised the city’s in-house work producing the report and endorsed pursuing grants and public‑access opportunities that could broaden monitoring and treatment options.