The effect of the Faka Union Canal system on water levels in the Fakahatchee Strand, Collier County, Florida

The Faka Union Canal system, constructed in the western Big Cypress Swamp, Fla., in the early 1970's, lies about 3.5 miles west of the centerline of the Fakahatchee Strand, a forested water course which the State of Florida has designated as an Area of Critical State Concern in order to conserve natural resources. Between 1970 and 1975 the canal system annually discharged to the Gulf of Mexico from 143,200 to 275,600 acre-feet of freshwater. Discharge lowered ground-water levels as much as 4 feet near the eastern canal and created a water-level gradient that indicates water flowed from the Fakahatchee Strand west toward the canal during most of the year. In June 1975, water from early summer rains was impounded in the eastern canal upstream of the control structure at Janes Scenic Drive, and, as water levels rose in this reach, water flowed from the canal into the aquifer and around the control structure.

The annual low-water level in the center of the Fakahatchee Strand declined from nearly 3 feet above mean sea level in 1972 to 1 foot above mean sea level in 1974. (Woodard-USGS)