DeLand, county, New Smyrna file objections over water plant on Lower Ocklawaha

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
A quiet moment — An anhinga dries its feathers as it sits on a dock along the St. Johns River. The cities of DeLand, Orange City and Deltona have all said no to joining with Seminole County to draw water from the St. Johns at a plant called Yankee Lake. Now, Volusia County government, DeLand and New Smyrna Beach have filed objections to a St. Johns River Water Management District plan for them and other utilities to get up to 107 million gallons of water a day from the Lower Ocklawaha River.

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Jun 21, 2009 - 4:44:23pm

The County of Volusia, and the cities of DeLand and New Smyrna Beach have come together to fight over water.

They're not fighting each other. They're fighting the St. Johns River Water Management District about alternative water sources; specifically, a project called "Lower Ocklawaha River in Putnam County."

The county, DeLand and New Smyrna Beach each filed a petition objecting to the Water Management District's plan to make them turn to the Ocklawaha for water.

The petitions note the plant would cost $266 million to build and $5.8 million a year to operate, with the cost shared between seven cities and Volusia County. The water would have to be transported more than 70 miles from the Lower Ocklawaha to DeLand or New Smyrna Beach.

An amendment to the Water Management District's supply plan, approved May 12, also identifies Daytona Beach, Deltona, Edgewater, Ormond Beach and Port Orange as potential users of water from the Ocklawaha.

The three parties that filed petitions are asking a state administrative judge to strike the Lower Ocklawaha project from the Water Management District's Water Supply Plan list. They also want the judge to make the district provide a project list "based upon proper planning level analyses."

DeLand City Attorney Darren Elkind said water has turned into a major issue, and the Lower Ocklawaha is one more piece of it.

First, the Water Management District tried to push West Volusia utilities to use Seminole County's Yankee Lake plant on the St. Johns River.

DeLand, Deltona and Orange City said no, and Volusia County hasn't signed on yet with Yankee Lake.

Seminole County asked the prospective partners to pay millions upfront for a project that may not be feasible to construct, but has raised a lot of questions about harmful effects to the river.

The other alternative-water project being studied near Volusia County is Coquina Coast, a ocean-water desalination plant just off the Flagler Coast.

All the projects would be expensive. Paying for them, Elkind noted, would cause a "350- to 700-percent increase in what you and I pay for water."

When the utilities began turning away from Yankee Lake, the Water Management District told them to turn to the Lower Ocklawaha instead, Elkind said.

DeLand, his client, doesn't want to do that.

"We don't want to take it out of any river," Elkind said.

In addition to the cost, Elkind said, there are doubts about whether the Lower Ocklawaha plant would ever be permitted.

The bigger picture, Elkind said, is the Water Management District requiring all West Volusia cities to seek alternative water sources, not just to accommodate future growth, but to provide current needs.

One reason is to protect the water flow at Blue Spring, but recent studies show rainfall has much more effect on those levels than do wells drilled into the aquifer, Elkind said. Studies commissioned by DeLand, the county, Deltona and Orange City are challenging the district's studies.

The Water Management District hasn't even completed its own study of Blue Spring, Elkind noted.

And that's just one aspect of the confusion, for city water-managers struggling to cope with the district's demands.

"The district just keeps changing this around. They caught us by surprise when the put us in the [Ocklawaha] plan," DeLand Public Service Director Keith Riger said. "Last year, the district was saying we couldn't use that source."

Riger wants the Water Management District to take the time to find a solution that's environmentally acceptable and affordable.

The Putnam County Environmental Council has opposed plans to tap the Lower Ocklawaha, as has the St. Johns Riverkeeper. The Ocklawaha flows into the St. Johns River near Palatka.

On June 9, the Putnam County Environmental Council filed a request for a review of the plan with the Florida Land and Water Adjudicatory Commission.

St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon said the Water Management District endorses projects like the Lower Ocklawaha plant with little or no understanding by the board or the people.

Water Management District spokesman Ed Garland said the agency's legal staff is still reviewing the petitions filed by DeLand, Volusia County and New Smyrna Beach, and has no comment on them for now.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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