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Water Management District: We 'got the message'
By Pat Hatfield
posted Jul 16, 2009 - 9:45:03am
The St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board will delay funding of river-water withdrawal projects until environmental-protection studies of the St. Johns and Ocklawaha rivers are completed.
The decision came during budget discussions July 14, and drew cheers from environmentalists who had feared harm to the rivers if they were tapped for public water.
“We are pleased that the district has finally listened to what the St. Johns Riverkeeper and concerned citizens have been saying all along. For over two years, we have called for more prudent and responsible solutions that emphasize water conservation,” St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon said.
The Riverkeeper, a nonprofit organization devoted to protecting the river, joined the City of Jacksonville in suing the St. Johns River Water Management District over its approval of the Yankee Lake plant planned on the St. Johns by Seminole County.
Opposition came not just from environmentalists, but from cities who said they were being forced by the Water Management District to take part in building the expensive plants for drawing and treating river water.
In June, Volusia County and the cities of DeLand and New Smyrna Beach filed lawsuits over the Water Management District’s plans for them to pipe water from the Lower Ocklawaha River in Putnam County 60 miles or more, to supplement their water supplies. The Ocklawaha flows into the St. Johns.
Studies commissioned by DeLand, the county, Deltona and Orange City are challenging the district’s position that pumping will not harm the river.
“The Board and staff have received the message from the public that increased water conservation efforts need to occur as we further explore the development of alternative water supply sources,” Board Chairwoman Susan N. Hughes of Ponte Vedra wrote in a July 14 press release about the halt in funding for river-water plants.
“It is a fiscally good decision to complete the District’s St. Johns River Water Supply Impact Study before we commit funding to construction of river water withdrawal projects,” Governing Board member Hans G. Tanzler III of Jacksonville stated.
Tanzler was one of the dissenting voices in April, when the Governing Board approved Yankee Lake.
In the 2009-10 budget year that begins Oct. 1, the Water Management District will focus on completing a three-year, $2 million study examining the potential ecological effects of river-water withdrawals, and will also concentrate on establishing “aggressive” water-conservation goals.
Also, a 2010 District Water Supply Plan will include water-demand projections reflecting the recent slowdown in the state’s population growth.
“It’s good they’re starting to listen, and starting to realize we have valid concerns,” Riverkeeper Executive Director Jimmy Orth said, adding, “Now, we’ve got to hold them accountable.”
President Karen Ahlers of the Putnam Environmental Council said, “I’m happy to hear that they are looking more closely at the savings that could be realized through conservation, and happy to see they have appropriated money in the budget for conservation.”
She hopes the district will look at funding conservation measures such as retrofits for toilets and soil-moisture sensors for irrigation systems.
The Water Management District is still pushing plans to use Taylor Creek Reservoir on the St. Johns River near the Orange and Osceola county lines as a source of public drinking water, Ahlers said. That concerns her.
“That is water being denied the St. Johns River,” Ahlers said.
At its July 14 meeting, the Water Management District Governing Board approved a $284.48 million budget and kept the current tax rate of 0.4158 mills for the 2009–10 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, the news release stated. Two public hearings will be held before the budget is finally adopted in September.
Included in the budget is $9.8 million for water conservation and demand-management efforts. A reserve fund of more than $4 million will be set up for future water-conservation projects.
The tentative budget represents a reduction of $86 million – 23 percent – from the current fiscal year’s budget. Property-tax revenue will drop by $13.6 million, or 10 percent.
For more information and comments by the Governing Board, visit the Water Management District Web site at www.sjrwmd.com/boardnews.
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You have started my day with GOOD NEWS !
Finally the SJRWMD is listening to the PEOPLE and we must continue our efforts to be heard.
Actually, they are not listening to the public outcry, they are listening to a BUDGET.
Their budget concerns are greater than a
healthy river. WoW, they are talking WATER CONSERVATION which is and should remain their primary purpose.
Absolutely the SJRWMD should wait for results of their 3 year, 2 million dollar study to be completed. Too bad they have to waste those funds to believe what people with common sense already know and are desperately trying to tell them.
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