GOVERNMENT
Ebbing the flow
City working on McCarty project
to provide clean water and rivers
As the shovels dug into the earth before a crowd
at McCarty Ranch Preserve in December, the first
part of a long-held dream kicked in. The preserve,
purchased to provide a long-term drinking water
supply for the city, was about to see its first step toward that.
“The McCarty Ranch water quality project is really about
saving our today and our future,” Mayor Greg Oravec told a
group of eighth-graders from Forest Grove Middle School and
a large gathering of local dignitaries and interested residents.
The dream of the city using water from that land goes all
the way back to John McCarty, who managed the ranch that
had been in his family for generations. He wanted to see the
lakes formed by a company that mined coquina rock eventually
used as a water supply. The city carried that dream
forward when it purchased the ranch land for anti-pollution
measures and future drinking water supply.
“They’re looking ahead,” observed former County Commissioner
12 Port St. Lucie Magazine
Charles Grande. “It’s good that this land will be
used for water conservation instead of rooftops.”
The turn of shovels marked the launch of new reservoirs to
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CITY OF PORT ST. LUCIE
The former McCarty Ranch property was purchased to collect rain water and water from the C-23 Canal, store it, clean it and eventually use it for drinking
water. The ranch is also being used for recreational fishing, hiking, horseback riding, camping and more.
BY SUSAN BURGESS