‘We are going underwater’: Orange County residents worry about docks near Big Sand Lake

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Residents in the area near Doctor Philips and Big Sand Lake say they are concerned about their homes.

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They say they’ve been watching the water rising constantly in their backyards following the recent rains we’ve been seeing across Central Florida; as a result, many of the docks in the area are now gone.

“It really doesn’t work as we were told it would work,” said John Jennings, a long-time Orange County resident, who’s also a chairman of the Big Sand Lake Advisory Board. “Big Sand Lake is basically a dumping ground, a retention pond for the 5,000 acres that flow into it. And now we’ve taken so much water up and down at such a rate it can’t handle it.”

Channel 9 caught up with Jennings just moments after he spoke with the Florida Department of Transportation yet again.

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He says it’s been a long battle - since last year, at least - but things got worse after hurricane season came along. “I went back to a meeting we had on January 9, 2018, and they told us a very extensive study was done, and they drew the outfall that they built,” said Jennings. “It really doesn’t work as we were told it would work.”

Here’s what Jennings said is going on - the original project was supposed to drain the water from Big Sand Lake into nearby lakes, like Lake Serene and Spring Lake.

But instead, he said the opposite is happening – and as many as 8 nearby bodies of water are flowing straight into Big Sand Lake. “Over half the docks in the lake, over 200 docks in the lake, and there’s 100 up underwater right now. We’re going underwater.”

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The Big Sand Lake Outfall project is powered by the Florida Department of Transportation.

FDOT said it is watching the water levels, especially after the past couple of weeks of extensive rain.

FDOT said the water is currently flowing out of Big Sand Lake toward Shingle Creek, and the only part missing from the project is a water gate that would allow Orange County to regulate the system and control the flow of water.

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That portion of the project is expected to be fully finished by the end of the month.

Still, residents say they are not sure if the project would handle the amount of water and rain if severe weather strikes. “I do lose sleep over it, as residents do, as their property is damaged by the water level,” said Jennings.

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