St. Johns Riverkeeper files suit, makes plea;

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Talking water — St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon talks water with Janet Smith of the Women's Club of Welaka during a break at a St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board meeting May 12. He made another plea against pulling water from the river. The Riverkeeper organization filed suit over the matter May 11.

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Promoting alternative water sources — St. Johns River Water Management District Director of Resource Management Hal Wilkening addresses the Governing Board at its May 12 meeting in Palatka. He said conservation will not provide enough water to meet Central Florida's needs, and plans to use other sources of water, including the river and ocean, need to be in the works.

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Listening to staff members – St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board member Mike Ertel, who represents the Seminole/Volusia county area of the district, listens to staff discussion about conservation.

Water Management District proceeds with plans to tap the river

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted May 19, 2009 - 12:54:19pm

The St. Johns Riverkeeper filed suit over the St. Johns River Water Management District's approval of Seminole County's plan to tap the St. Johns for irrigation and drinking water May 11, then May 12, went back to the WMD to beg for conservation instead of river use.

Other conservationists also went back to Palatka May 12, determined to be heard about the need for conservation, rather than use of the river. They included representatives from the Nature

Conservancy, Sierra Club, Putnam County Environmental Council, Audubon of Florida, and Florida Native Plant Society.

At an April 13 meeting, the board voted 5-4 to approve the Yankee Lake project, allowing Seminole County to begin tapping the St. Johns River for an average of 5.5 million gallons of water a day (mgd).

A crowd of around 400 people showed up to protest the project. District employees turned many away at the door, saying the crowd was too big. Individual members of the Riverkeeper organization were not allowed to speak because they were represented at the hearing by an attorney, district staff said. Around 19,000 e-mails were blocked from reaching board members, under the rationale the board was about to make a quasi-judicial decision and shouldn't have communication with outside parties.

The St. Johns Riverkeeper announced May 11 the organization filed an appeal of the board's decision with the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach, asking the court to throw out the decision.

Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon vowed to keep up the fight, and May 11, said he had kept that promise.

“Our board of directors advised the staff to continue to fight these misguided and potentially harmful water withdrawal projects,“ Armingeon stated. “We will not fold up our tents and go quietly into the night, as Seminole County hoped for."

"We are representing thousands of concerned citizens who love the St. Johns and will not be deterred by Seminole County’s high-priced lawyers and politically connected PR firms. We intend to win. Our river and the citizens of this state deserve nothing less,” Armingeon added.

Seminole County's position has been that the withdrawals will not harm the river.

The permit approved April 13 is the first step toward an eventual goal of pulling 55 mgd or more from the river, and selling it to neighboring utilities, in Volusia County, Lake County, the City of DeLand, Leesburg and other communities, as well as using it in Seminole County.

The Seminole County plant could be the first of a number of plants pulling up to 300 mgd from the St. Johns River, Armingeon said.

Pleading the cause

Lake County Commissioner Elaine Renick was the first to speak. She asked the Water Management District board to draft a resolution opposing withdrawals from the St. Johns and Ocklawaha rivers, and emphasizing conservation measures, calling it "the right thing to do."

Renick said there's a disconnect. Officials of local governments cycle in and out, serving two- three- and four- year terms, and the reality of alternative water sources — turning from wells to the river or ocean — is just hitting home to them.

"We're not doing the conservation we should be doing," she said. "Please allow conservation as the alternate water source."

She also asked the board to allow localities to impose more stringent water conditions than the Water Management District imposes, something they can't do now.

The Water Management District should award conservation by allocating resources to those who conserve, instead of those who do not.

"Please allow conservation as an alternative water source," she said.

Other speakers backed her up. They included Soil and Water Conservation Board members from counties in the district: Steve Barnes of Seminole County, Dan Kanfer of Volusia County, Sue Clary of Orange County, and Peggy Bellflower of Lake County.

Barnes pointed out there has been little progress in reducing water consumption. In 1994, the per capita water use in the St. Johns Water Management District was 150 gallons a day, and it was the same in 2007.

Bellflower asked the Governing Board to promote the use of free irrigation labs that show farmers and gardeners how to save water.

Charles Lee of Audubon of Florida asked that "systemic conservation requirements" be attached to consumptive-use permits. He advocated the use of soil-moisture sensors to determine when irrigation is needed, and use of Florida-friendly landscaping.

Cisterns are another way to conserve, Keith Schue of the Nature Conservancy pointed out. In Santa Fe County, N.M., where the annual rainfall is 15 inches or less, cisterns are a requirement.

Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon endorsed all these conservation measures.

He said, "You heard today, the public is willing, ready and committed to conserving water."

More water to come out of the river?

Armingeon asked the board not to approve a fourth addendum to the 2005 District Water Supply Plan, which he said would not aid conservation, but would allow even more water to be pulled from the river — up to 300 million gallons a day, instead of the currently permissible 155 million gallons.

Director of Resource Management Hal Wilkening said the addendum would not add any projects, but would refine descriptions and notify local utilities of options.

"We are required to provide them with options," he said, and conservation is a part of it.

Planning and design for alternative water sources must begin now, Wilkening said. It typically takes 10 years to build a facility.

The Governing Board approved the addendum.

Chairwoman Susan Hughes asked for help in slowing down growth.

"How draconian can we get?" she asked, of district measures to limit use of water.

She said there is a disconnect between what's the responsibility of local government and what's the responsibility of the WMD in regulating growth and water use.

She and other Governing Board members noted conservation will be strongly enforced and encouraged.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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