KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – They were a force that wouldn’t be ignored. They filled the front row of every St. Johns River Water Management District meeting and most Clay County Board of Commissioners meetings.

No matter how frustrating their pleas to stop the dramatic drop in water levels at Lakes Geneva and Brooklyn – and their demands to replenish water lost by decades of abuse – they weren’t detoured.

On Friday, Oct. 21, their vigil was rewarded when the four-decade-long project was recognized by local and regional partners, residents and community leaders. Details of the project have been finalized, consisting of constructing a water pump station between Penney Farms and Camp Blanding off State Road 16. Construction already has been started.

“This has been four decades or more journey,” said Save Our Lakes President Vivian Katz-James. “It’s a big day for a lot of people. Not just me but a lot of people.”

The project came to fruition after 40 years of collaboration between the water district, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, local governments, utilities and other interested stakeholders like the Save Our Lakes Organization, who became known as “red shirts” because they all wore red shirts to meetings.

While the primary goal of the project is to increase the recharge to the Upper Floridan aquifer, it will also improve water levels across the Etonia Chain in Putnam and Clay counties. This includes Lakes Brooklyn Geneva in Keystone Heights, two major recharge sites for the Florida Aquifer. To accomplish this, water from Black Creek will be pumped through a 17-mile pipeline, eventually discharging into a passive treatment system that will remove color and minor nutrients.

“The Black Creek Project will bring excess water through the pipeline to an area just North of Brooklyn. From there it will be distributed in an area that will flow into Alligator Creek, which will feed into Lake Brooklyn and then to Lake Geneva. As the lake levels increase, it benefits the recharge to the Floridan Aquifer,” said Katz.

Not only will the pipeline help the lakes recover, but the communities around it.

“I grew up on Lake Brooklyn, and it was a weekend place. Every weekend we were down here. I used to play in a band that would play at this very pavilion, way back in the day, every Thursday and Friday night. So this is where I grew up. This is where all my childhood memories are,” said SOLO’s Dewitt Gibbs. “There are a lot of people like us who grew up on the lakes here, who have our childhood memories here, and want to see the lakes restored before we die.”

Many Keystone Heights residents have seen firsthand the drastic changes in the lake levels over the past few decades. The Black Creek project not only will protect the integrity of the lakes, but help preserve the memory of the community that lives on it.

“It only took four decades. It’s all about having the right people come together. It’s exciting to see the government doing some good. Doing some things for the people, giving back to the people. We know a lot of them and they are truly good people and they’ve made a difference. They’ve brought the lakes back,” Gibbs said.

Not only are the lakes a precious water resource, but the restoration of the lakes will also boost tourism and provide the community with recreational activities that will help boost the local economy. “I remember the water was so high you couldn’t even boat on it unless you were in a canoe,” said SOLO’s Carol Rozear. She grew up on Lake Brooklyn and went to Keystone Heights High.

“You got in your power boat. You got your skies. And you just hit it, water skiing all over the lake. I love it. I can’t wait to do it again,” she said.

Rozear will be excited to see boats returned to the waters where she learned how to swim as a girl. Many remember the boats on the water on hot summer days.

“In the early days, it was full and beautiful and not as crowded. Well, it would be on some of the holidays, Fourth of July and Labor Day,” said SOLO Board Member Web Farber. “You wouldn’t want to launch your boat because there are too many crisscrossing all over the place. It truly was picturesque. It was a high-quality lake, above ordinary, with clear water and the sandy bottom. It was a paradise, it really was.”

“There used to be signs for the lakes coming in on (State) Highway 21 coming in from Gainesville, saying “Welcome to Keystone: The Lake Community. And it really was just that. On the road, you could see the high water and the people on it. It was a destination. Now when people drive through they say, that’s too bad. Just too bad. But here is a chance to put it back in a good condition.”

Another resident, Carolyn Moody, shared her memory of the lakes growing up. “I’ve lived on the lake since 1952. I remember when the water was over where this bridge is, for Lake Brooklyn. There were maybe four houses on the whole lake. It’s changed a lot,” Carolyn Moody said.

Carolyns’s father, Chester Moody, was one of the founders of the Lake Brooklyn Civic Association, now Save Our Lakes Organization. For Carolyn, the pipeline is a reminder of her father’s dedication to restoring the Lakes, a dream he passed down to her.

“Moody was one of the first to realize there was a problem in the late seventies, and he went to the water district and said, there was something wrong and the science couldn’t figure it out. The water district said it was just the rain for years. But it’s not all rain. We knew better than that. The old-timers that lived here day in and day out, they knew something was off,” Katz said.