Lake Osborne,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, USA is a 378-acre (152.9 hectares) lake that is part of a system of once natural freshwater lakes lying along the western slope of the coastal ridge in

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

just west of the Florida

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following th ...

and

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. It is located within the C-16

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

which occupies approximately 40,031

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s of land (16,200 hectares). Five drainage canals discharge directly to Lake Osborne, and Lake Osborne discharges via the E-4 canal to the C16 and C51 canals to the

Lake Worth Lagoon The Lake Worth Lagoon is a lagoon located in Palm Beach County, Florida. It runs parallel to the coast, and is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier beaches, including Palm Beach Island. The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by tw ...

. The lake is bordered on the west by

John Prince Memorial Park John Prince Memorial Park is a park located in Lake Worth Beach, Florida. The park covers 726.36 acres (338 of which are acres of Lake Osborne) and is managed by the Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department. Most of the park is on the wes ...

, and on the east be the City of Lake Worth. This lake system has been greatly impacted from human activities. It has been extensively modified and reduced in size by

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

and fill activities from urban and

residential development A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

; several lakes were completely filled and built upon. The lakes were probably dredged contemporaneous with canal construction in the 1920s or earlier. It is likely that filling of the adjacent

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s for residential construction occurred at the same time or later. Square Lake and its

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

were dredged for fill in the 1960s and additional dredging occurred in the north lobe of Lake Osborne in the 1970s. Degradation of the lake's

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

has been ongoing; however, with the elimination of domestic waste discharges 20+ years ago, the water quality has shown improvement.

Eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

continues as a result of continued discharges of

stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed la ...

and agricultural and yard/street

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

. More than two dozen stormwater outfalls are situated within 1000 ft of Lake Osborne. In addition to the lake's loss of

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

value due to urban and residential growth, there has been significant establishment of exotic vegetation, fish, and molluscan species that have disrupted the lake's

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

function. Lake Osborne is important to

for transporting, processing, and storing stormwater and serving as a water supply

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

. It is also of considerable value to the county for its scenic value and the recreational opportunities it provides. It is heavily used for

boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether Motorboat, powerboats, Sailing, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sp ...

and fishing as well as a variety of shore-based activities. In addition, John Prince Park, located along the western shoreline of Lake Osborne's north and central lobe, offers an

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

destination for visitors seeking a natural experience where they can enjoy and learn about this ecosystem. Due to development, vegetated

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

areas in and adjacent to Lake Osborne have been reduced to a fragment of their original size. The lake

shoreline A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

s predominantly consist of bare sand or mowed grass and exotic and/or

invasive vegetation An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. John Prince Park maintains a lawn like appearance for the majority of the shorelines of Lake Osborne. Within the water column exotic vegetation, such as

water lettuce ''Pistia'' is a genus of aquatic plants in the arum family, Araceae. It is the sole genus in the tribe ''Pistieae'' which reflects its systematic isolation within the family. The single species it comprises, ''Pistia stratiotes'', is often cal ...

(Pistia stratiotes),

water hyacinth ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive outside its native range.hydrilla ''Hydrilla'' (waterthyme) is a genus of aquatic plant Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from ...

(Hydrilla verticillata), and now Hygrophila (Hygrophila spp.), pose an ongoing nuisance and are treated with aquatic

herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weedkillers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page fo ...

s. With the loss of aquatic habitat, fish populations within the lake are becoming more represented by rough species, such as

Tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...

(Tilapia sp. and Oreochromis sp.).

External links

Palm Beach County Website
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Osborne Osborne may refer to: * Osborne (name) Places Australia * Osborne, South Australia (disambiguation), places associated with the suburb in the Adelaide metropolitan area * Osborne, New South Wales, a rural community in the Riverina region Can ...