St. Johns Riverkeeper Takes Legal Action

Here is the press release that we sent out yesterday announcing the legal action that we are taking to stop the withdrawal of water from the St. Johns by Seminole County.

On Tuesday, March 4th, St. Johns Riverkeeper officially filed for an administrative hearing to challenge the permit request from Seminole County to withdraw an average of 5.5 million gallons of water per day (MGD) from the St. Johns River for irrigation purposes. In addition to challenging the permit through an administrative law court (DOAH), St. Johns Riverkeeper is joining Public Trust Environmental Law Institute of Florida to pursue other legal actions, as well.

St. Johns Riverkeeper and Public Trust Environmental Law Institute of Florida have notified the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) of their intent to seek an injunction to require the SJRWMD to do the following:

1. Cease granting any consumptive use permits (CUPs) involving the St. Johns River;
2. Cease granting any consumptive use permits involving the Ocklawaha River;
3. Cease giving "assurances" to municipalities that the municipalities will be awarded CUPs involving the St. Johns and the Ocklawaha River surface water prior to proof that the legal requirements of issuing CUPs have been met.

The injunction would be effective until all the pending studies are completed by both the SJRWMD and the DEP.

The administrative legal challenge by St. Johns Riverkeeper and the pursuit of an injunction are in response to the recent announcement that the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) staff has recommended approval of the Seminole County request to withdraw an average of 5.5 million gallons of water per day (MGD) from the St. Johns River for its proposed Yankee Lake project.

The SJRWMD Governing Board was scheduled to decide upon the permit request at its next meeting on March 11th, but the legal action taken by St. Johns Riverkeeper will postpone any decision by the Board.

Seminole County is proposing to use the surface water from the St. Johns River for irrigation purposes. Seminole County is seeking to withdraw an average of 5.5 million gallons per day, but the amount of water withdrawn from the St. Johns could be as much as 11 million gallons per day during certain times of the year.

After 2013, Seminole County proposes to use the St. Johns River to supplement its drinking water needs, as well. Seminole County has plans to eventually withdraw as much as 80 MGD from the St. Johns River at the Yankee Lake facility. Water withdrawal proposals from Seminole County combined with those from other counties and utilities total nearly 400 MGD.

"Today, we are making good on our promise to do everything within our power to protect the St. Johns River. We will not allow Seminole County to move forward and destroy the River's health,” says Neil Armingeon, the St. Johns Riverkeeper. "This permit is not about 5.5 MGD; it is about the future of the St. Johns River."

Armingeon continues, “We could not take the chance that the Governing Board would do the right thing and deny this permit. We need to try and nip this in the bud, and put an end to these withdrawal proposals now before the flood gates are opened.”

Regarding the injunction, Warren Anderson of the Public Trust Environmental Law Institute of Florida stated, "It is not just Seminole County wanting to draw-down the River. We want a judge to order the SJRWMD to stop granting these permits until all the appropriate scientific studies are completed. Finish the studies first. With the health of the St. Johns River at stake, is that too much to ask?"

Let the videos begin!

Today, St. Johns Riverkeeper announces the start date of the Conserving Water To Save Our Rivers PSA Video Contest.

“Conserving Water To Save Our Rivers” PSA Contest entries must be 60 seconds or less and address the importance of protecting our water resources and the St. Johns River system. We are not looking for entries that simply provide water conservation tips. We want kids to raise awareness by challenging viewers to examine how we use water, to understand why it is important to conserve water and the consequences of over-use, and to consider how to sustainably protect the St. John River and our groundwater resources. We expect this to be a challenging task for kids to tackle in 60-seconds or less, but never underestimate the talents and creativity of our youth.

All of the decisions that involve how we use our groundwater and the surface waters from our rivers are being decided by politicians and adult decision-makers. The PSA Contest will provide our youth with the opportunity to have a voice in the debate and to help raise awareness about an issue that impacts their lives, as well. In fact, any problems that should arise from the decisions that we make will fall to our kids to bear and to solve.

For more information, visit the St. Johns Riverkeeper website at
www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org.

On the PSA Contest page of our website is a really cool video about the Contest that was created by our partners in this project, Team Gaia.

Also, there is a video posted on the Florida Times-Union website about the Contest.
Check it out! www.jacksonville.com/news/waterwars

Below is the unedited version of a recent letter written by Jimmy Orth, Executive Director of St. Johns Riverkeeper, that appeared in the Florida Times-Union:

Everyone in NE FL seems to be in opposition to the proposals by Central Florida and the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) to withdraw millions of gallons of water a day from the St. Johns River. Most local governments have passed resolutions in opposition to the plan. Mayor Peyton and many of our state legislators are concerned that these proposals will harm the river. Everyone also acknowledges that we have to do a much better job of using our limited water resources more responsibly and efficiently. Even the SJRWMD claims to support an expansion of water conservation measures. Unfortunately, our actions don’t correspond with our rhetoric. Each day, I see businesses and residents watering at the wrong time of the day or too frequently with sprinklers that are not properly adjusted. Recently, I reported a problem at a city-owned property where the sprinklers have been operating every day for at least 2 weeks, extending beyond the10AM rule and pouring thousands of gallons of water on the adjacent street. Four days after reporting the problem to the city, the sprinklers were still running. In NE FL, we have not adopted mandatory water conservation measures and our utilities provide few incentives for conservation. Even though the SJRWMD has said that conservation could postpone the water withdrawal plans, they continue to rubber stamp consumptive use permits (CUPs) for the withdrawal of our groundwater. In 2007, permits were issued that total 2.845 million gallons a day (mgd) for golf courses, 1.74 mgd for sod farms, 4.31 mgd for a fish farm, .769 for water bottling plants, and 1.296 mgd to a Cocoa Beach surf shop for its cooling and air condition. That is a total of 10.96 mgd or over 4 billion gallons of water a year. These are just some of the more egregious or excessive permits and only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the total amount of water that is permitted each year for withdrawal from our aquifer. Now, the SRJRWMD wants to allow Seminole County to withdraw 5.5 million gallons per day from the river to be used primarily for irrigation purposes. The bottom line is that we have not taken water conservation seriously, and we absolutely must. We must provide more effective education, substantially increase incentives and markedly improve and strengthen regulations that govern water use. Using over 50% of our potable water on our lawns and shrubs is no longer an option, and we must start using drought-tolerant landscaping practices. We also have to start making prudent decisions about the appropriate uses and how we prioritize and allocate this essential public resource. Now is the time for us to decide – do we continue to just talk a good game or do we also start demonstrating our commitment by taking aggressive and more responsible actions. Yes, we all oppose the plans to take water from the river. But, we must also take responsibility and conserve our water resources to the point that there is no need to withdraw water from our river in the first place.

Damn Yankee

The St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) has announced that it is recommending approval of a permit by Seminole County to take up to 5.5 million gallons of water a day (mgd) from the St. Johns River at its Yankee Lake facility primarily for irrigation uses.

This comes right on the heels of the SJRWMD announcing that it will spend nearly $2 million of our taxpayer dollars to study the potential impacts of the withdrawal proposals over the next 2 years. We certainly support further studies before any withdrawal decisions are made. However, the District's decision to recommend approval of the Yankee Lake project permit before the study has even begun gives the impression that the study is just window-dressing for a done deal.

The Yankee Lake permit will be voted on by the SJRWMD Governing Board at their next meeting in Palatka on March 11th. Even though the SJRWMD staff is recommending approval, the Governing Board can vote to deny the permit application. Write or e-mail the Governing Board members and let them know what you think about this permit and the water withdrawal proposals in general.

If you can, try to attend the meeting on March 11th, as well. We need to show up in force and let the Governing Board members know that they have an obligation to protect our St. Johns River and our water resources.

For contact information for the Governing Board, visit the Riverkeeper website and click on the image in the Current News section or go directly to http://www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org/thirstthreatens.asp.

Where's Charlie?

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by the district court that would have allowed the Army Corps of Engineers and Georgia to enter into an agreement for water rights to the Lake Lanier reservoir. The decision was viewed as a victory for Florida and Alabama.

Governor Crist applauded the court for "recognizing the importance of maintaining Florida's water flow."

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary, Michael Sole, also supported the ruling, saying that lower river flows would harm Apalachiacola Bay.

Why don't they apply that same logic to another one of our state's most important rivers, the St. Johns?

Similar to the situation in Georgia, the St. Johns is also threatened by plans to reduce its flow by using its waters to supplement the drinking water needs of communities that have reached their water supply limits.

The St. Johns River water withdrawal proposals could be just as harmful to an important and fragile aquatic ecosystem. In fact, the rate of flow of the St. Johns is less than the Apalachiacola and the tidal influences are much greater. This results in the St. Johns not being able to flush pollutants efficiently to begin with.

The bottom line is this: Less freshwater and less flow are bad for BOTH rivers.

Governor, when are you going to stand up and defend the St. Johns River, too?

Let's maintain the flow in the St. Johns, as well.

Conserving water to save our rivers

This past Friday, elected officials and concerned citizens from Northeast Florida gathered at the St. Johns County Convention Center at World Golf Village for the Water Supply Summit. Your Riverkeeper, Neil Armingeon, was one of the speakers who voiced opposition to the plans in Central Florida to withdraw millions of gallons a day from the St. Johns River.

Dozens of citizens attended wearing "Every Drop Counts" stickers to let the elected officials know of their concern and opposition to the withdrawal proposals.

One of things that Riverkeeper is concerned about is the lack of discussion and dialogue about the reasons our river is being concerned for withdrawals in the first place. Before one drop is even considered for removal, we must begin to address the problems that have created the need for more water - overdevelopment, unsustainable growth, poor planning, and an extremely inefficient use of water. Let's address those issues before we move on and deplete and cause harm to another one of our water resources - the St. Johns River.

This is why Riverkeeper is developing the Conservation First campaign. The St. Johns River Water Management District keeps saying that conservation alone will not provide all of our water needs. We say - How will you know until you really try?

Are You A KEEPER?

If you are a Riverkeeper member, then the answer is definitely "YES".

Thanks to YOU, our loyal and generous supporters and members, Riverkeeper had a very successful year in 2007 and is poised to continue to make significant progress toward our goal of a clean and healthy St. Johns River.

· In 2007, we released our first annual Compliance Report that exposed and raised awareness about the numerous wastewater discharge permit violations that have taken place over the last two years. Soon after its release, FL Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole announced that DEP would strengthen its penalty guidelines and would take a tougher stance against the most serious environmental violations.

· We initiated a legal challenge against JEA for repeatedly violating the Clean Water Act that will hopefully result in infrastructure upgrades at the Arlington East and Buckman wastewater treatment facilities and fewer Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs) of untreated sewage.

· We continued our fight for a meaningful and protective nutrient pollution reduction plan (TMDL) for the St. Johns.

· We led the effort to stop the proposals in Central Florida to annually withdraw millions of gallons of water from the St. Johns River. As a result of our involvement, resolutions opposing the withdrawal projects were passed by the Neptune Beach City Council, Jacksonville Beach City Council, Jacksonville City Council, Jacksonville Planning Commission, Town of Keystone Heights, and numerous citizen groups.

· Riverkeeper was in the news over 120 times, spoke to over 60 organizations, and had over 60,000 visits to our website.

· Riverkeeper released its second documentary film, Revenge of the River that addresses critical issues, such as the rapid loss of wetlands, inadequate enforcement of our environmental laws, and the depletion of our groundwater supply. Recently, the documentary was nominated for two regional Emmy Awards. In September, our first documentary, The Green Monster, received first place honors at the national Awards for Reporting on the Environment.

· Riverkeeper hired an Education and Outreach Coordinator and retained a General Counsel for legal services.

· Danielle Dolan, our Education and Outreach Coordinator, developed and led numerous educational boat trips and field trips for families and children. She also began developing lesson plans and programs for teachers and schools that will be available this year.

· Michael Howle, our General Counsel, initiated several important legal actions and assembled a stellar Legal Advisory Committee consisting of Marc Hardesty, Warren Anderson, Bill Sheppard, and Wayne Hogan.

· We started our Partnership for a Clean River business program with our charter members: Black Creek Outfitters, Kayak Amelia, Sadler Point Marina, Jacksonville University, and Commercial Diving Academy.

· Neil Armingeon, the Riverkeeper, was named the “2007 Outspoken Citizen of the Year” by the Southside Business Men’s Club, and the St. Johns Riverkeeper organization received the Zone VIII Conservation Award from The Garden Club of America.



Although we had some success and certainly made progress in 2007, the St. Johns and Riverkeeper will continue to face many difficult challenges in 2008. We will need your unwavering support more than ever this year.

As you know, Central Florida and the St. Johns River Water Management District continue to move forward with plans to withdraw millions of gallons of water each day from our river. We will continue to oppose the withdrawal projects and to advocate for aggressive water conservation measures and sustainable building and planning practices.

Within the next week or so, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will notice the discharge permit for the Georgia Pacific Paper Mill in Palatka. This notice will begin the public comment period for this permit, and it signals the beginning of yet another battle to stop GP from moving its polluted discharge from Rice Creek to the St. Johns via a pipeline.

Make no mistake, this will be a time consuming and costly effort. This pipeline threatens the health of the River. Our general counsel is researching our legal options. I will be providing regular updates on this issue, including fact sheets and ways you and your family can help our efforts. We will need all of your help if we are to mount an effective campaign to stop GP’s efforts to build its pipeline and increase its discharge to the River.

As always, thank you for all you do for the St. Johns River. We look forward to meeting the challenges facing the River, and we will do everything within our power to make sure our St. Johns is protected during the coming year.

Happy New Year!