A project at the Crooked River Preserve brought a whole new meaning to the words portable potty.
The Lake County Water Authority has a number of preserves in the county, but they tend to be primitive in their offerings and amenities, spokeswoman Patricia Burgos said Tuesday. After multiple requests from the public for a restroom at the Crooked River Preserve, the water authority reached out, in 2014, to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for possible funding.
The water authority got a nearly $40,000 grant it would have to match for the restroom from the DEP’s Recreational Trails program — the only such grant awarded in Lake County last year, Burgos said. The restroom was fabricated by a Leesburg company, trucked to the preserve Tuesday and hoisted into place with a crane.
The 61-acre Crooked River Preserve was purchased by the water authority in 1993 and 1994 to protect shoreline along Crooked River, also known as the Palatlakaha River, the hardwood swamp that skirts the river and the aquifer recharge value of the property, Burgos said.
“Its popularity has grown in recent years due to its location on the river and easy access for fishing and as a canoe/kayak put-in area to the Clermont Chain-of-Lakes,” she said.