An Action Plan To Restore The St Johns River

       Innovative And Cost Effective Solutions        A Vision To Revitalize The St Johns And Its Tributaries   

Restoration Technologies

Green Roof Systems capture and hold stormwater thereby reducing runoff. Green Roofs also reduce HVAC costs, dramatically extend the life of the roof (50-60 years) and provide numerous additional benefits.

Stormwater Capture and Reuse Systems

Capture & Reuse Tanks – large, underground or surface containers designed to hold large volumes of water. Cisterns may be comprised of steel, plastic, fiberglass, concrete, brick or other materials.

Smaller Rain Barrels are commercially available as well and serve to reduce the volume of stormwater that leaves individual residential properties.

Proprietary Stormwater Infiltration Systems

When an area is developed, buildings and parking areas overcome the natural absorption area where the rain would normally be infiltrated back into the ground. These impervious structures offset the typical absorption pattern. As a result, when the rain is not allowed to penetrate it begins to build up, may cause ponding or flooding and/or begins to flow to another location.

By using infiltration chambers, rainwater is collected in inlet structures and piped to an underground retention/detention system. Infiltration chambers may be used as underground retention/detention systems, as replacements for ponds, concrete structures or pipe and stone installations. This technology provides a complete stormwater management plan consisting of filtration, conveyance, storage and infiltration.

Porous Pavers/Pavement - pavement systems are constructed from interlocking, high strength blocks made from bricks, concrete chambers or recycled plastic that prevent soil compaction and provide load support. Chambers can then filled with soil and seeded, or sodded.

Pervious Pavement - a permeable pavement surface with an underlying stone reservoir that temporarily stores surface runoff before infiltrating into the subsoil. This porous surface replaces traditional pavement, allowing parking lot runoff to infiltrate directly into the soil and receive water quality treatment.

Proprietary Pollution Filtration Systems

There are numerous leading edge proprietary pollution filtration technologies that will be an integral part of the restoration effort. The following are a few of the products, known in scientific circles as Structural BMPs (Best Management Practices). The majority of these products are designed to filter and capture pollutants in stormwater runoff. Software that is designed to develop restoration strategies, track and quantify the removal of individual pollutants will be employed as well.

The St Johns and its tributaries suffer with a vast layer of contaminated sediment that coats the bottom of these rivers. This toxic mixture of silt, sand and muck contains numerous poisons that continue to kill the river’s aquatic ecosystem. This layer of “sludge” has accumulated after many years of stormwater runoff washing in the dirt, chemicals, oil, trash and debris from the roofs, roads and parking lots. Industrial pollutants and inefficient and malfunctioning wastewater treatment plants also add to the contaminants that damage the river.

The restoration of the river will require that this contaminated sediment be REMOVED.

A major component of the restoration program will be to incorporate a NEW, cost effective contaminated sediment removal process. This new process design will incorporate a creative system of sediment removal, filtration, dewatering and air drying the sediment through exposure to sunlight. The contaminated sediment will be removed from the stream bottom utilizing a small dredge that will allow access to the narrow and shallow upper reaches of the tributary.

As the sediment is "vacuumed" from the bottom of the stream and shallow wetlands, the liquid slurry will be directed to a series of floating filtration chambers that are mounted on nearby compact floating barges. The filtration chambers utilize patented CrystalStream Technologies™ water quality filtration technology that has been successfully deployed over the past ten years to filter stormwater discharges.

A new modular water filtration system has been designed to efficiently dewater contaminated sediment. This new system will remove, capture, segregate and dewater sand, debris and progressively smaller contaminated sediment particles.

This process is covered by one or more of the following US. Patents: 6,797,161; 6,936,163; 6,939,461; 6,951,607; 6,994,783; 7,011,743; 7,037,436

The dredged water stream will be filtered as the slurry flows through a progression of filtration chambers that are piped together. The clean water at the end of this "treatment train" can then be returned to the river thereby providing substantial savings in transporting wet sludge to a landfill. Some of the captured sand can be air dried and disinfected by exposing the chambers to sunlight while floating them on "drying barges." This sand can then be reintroduced along the shores and wetlands to plant new native submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV).

Chambers that are located farther back in the "treatment train" will capture smaller particles containing high levels of organic matter. After this sediment has been dewatered and tested to ensure purity, it may serve as a fuel supplement to be burned in power boilers to generate electricity. The remaining dried sediment can be thermally treated, trucked to a nearby landfill or used as a soil amendment for land application. Some of the sand could possibly be sold to make cement/concrete as well.

The modular water filtration chambers will be designed to be light-weight, rugged with the ability to stack vertically. A shore mounted small hoist/crane will "pick" the chambers from the "drying barges." The chambers will be loaded and transported by a light duty roll-off transport trucks.