Client
Florida Institute of Phosphate Research
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Location
Central & Northern Florida
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Project Costs
$650,000
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Start Date
1998
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Completion Date
2003

Reclaimed Phosphatic Clay Settling Area Investigation

Scope

The Florida Institute of Phosphate Research (FIPR) project was aimed at defining the detailed hydrologic function of above ground clay settling areas and the development of reclamation and modeling guidelines for the phosphate industry. The project goal was to improve the predictability of hydrologic function including:

• Internal hydroperiod fluctuation
• Offsite peak discharge rates and volumes
• Offsite baseflow character

The project considered long-term changes in topography and surface roughness as a result of clay consolidation and cracking. The four sites studied were of different physical character. Each site was instrumented with numerous      monitoring platforms that continually recorded water level information in all depressions, surficial aquifer data, and comprehensive weather information.

The monitoring activities occurred over a three-year period. Data was used to define driving functions and plat data for model calibration. Numerous public domain and proprietary hydrologic models including SWMM, HSPF, HECI, BRN and AdlCPR were used to finalize modeling.