Showdown at the Water District meeting on St. Johns plan

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Locals protest harm to river — Beacon "On the River" columnist Bill Flowers, left, Susan Young of Deltona and engineer Roy Walters of Enterprise are among the 60 or so speakers who asked the St. Johns River Water Management District to say no to the Yankee Lake project in Seminole County. Their efforts were in vain. The project to tap water from the St. Johns River was approved on a 5-4 vote.

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
A mistake — Conservationist Eric West of Ormond Beach of Ormond Beach addressed the governing board of the St. Johns River Water Management District. He told them they need to get more water into the river, instead of drawing it out.

Arguments over Yankee Lake plan last seven hours

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Apr 14, 2009 - 1:37:47am

It was showdown at the St. Johns River Water Management District office in Palatka.

The district's governing board was to decide Monday whether or not to allow Seminole County to withdraw an average of 5.5 million gallons of water a day from the St. Johns River at a plant on Yankee Lake.

Seminole County and Water Management District staff and a battery of attorneys representing them faced opposition from the City of Jacksonville, St. Johns County and the St. Johns Riverkeeper organization and their attorneys.

An audience of hundreds of people listened and waited to speak in opposition to Seminole County's plan.

Seminole County attorney Edward de la Parte said, "The issue is whether a judge's order is legally valid and should be followed."

In October, a state administrative-law judge overruled the Riverkeeper's coalition against the plant, he noted. "They had their day in court ... the administrative-law judge found against them. We suggest this decision is not only legally valid, it needs to be supported."

Attorneys for the City of Jacksonville argued the permit should not be issued, based on a lack of scientific study of the impact of withdrawals from the river. A two-year Water Management District Study is still under way.

They also said Seminole County hasn't taken all the water-conservation efforts it must make before tapping the river. Nor has Seminole County provided any scientific data to back its claim that tapping the river won't harm it.

City of Jacksonville Attorney Jason Teal said called the permit "a horrible policy precedent." Seminole County has not even demonstrated a need for the water for at least another six years, he said.

He hammered home a regulation stating all available water-conservation methods must be used before tapping the St. Johns River as alternative water source, and said Seminole County has not done that.

St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon told board members, "I come before you today to tell you, you're the last hope that we have." He asked them to "right this wrong and stop this train wreck."

More than 60 organizations were there to voice opposition to the plan.

Seminole County's de la Parte said the county plan exceeds all requirements, and the county considered a number of options before settling on the plant as the most environmentally sound.

Initially, water would supplement reclaimed water for irrigation. Later, water drawn from the plant would ensure sufficient potable or drinking water, he said.

The audience grumbled when de la Parte said the board should uphold the judge's decision.

Audience members also grumbled at one of two speakers who advocated Seminole County be allowed to proceed with the plant. The grumbling drew a reprimand from the board.

Around 60 audience members spoke to the board. They shared concerns about saltwater intrusion into the river as freshwater levels fall. They said not nearly enough conservation efforts have been made. They said development should be constrained.

Steve Barnes, a a member of Seminole County Soil and Water Conservation District, said the withdrawals would lead to increased salinity, algae growth and danger to native species.

Roy Walters of Enterprise said the withdrawals could total 17 percent of an average day's flow. Tapping the river could lead to the water flowing backward. The plant would draw water out of springs, just to water yards.

He said water withdrawals would be at their highest during dry months, when river levels are at their lowest, and river life at its most vulnerable.

"What you're doing is allowing Seminole County to suck spring water," he said.

"Say no, or hell no," Lanny Aldridge of Seville urged the board.

"It's time to start putting that water back in the aquifer," Eric West of Ormond Beach said.

Attorney Michael Woodward of Interlachen told the board, "You're not boxed into a corner ... You can say no."

He warned, once the district allows the plant, it won't be able to apply the brakes to other such projects.

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