The River's Future Rests in Sanford

Hello Friends of the St. Johns,

Tomorrow the administrative hearing on the Yankee Lake permit begins. The hearing goes October 1 through the 3rd, October 6th through the 10th, and resumes, if necessary, October 16-17th. I will be attending the hearing each day, save a few, and will be posting a recap each night on the St. Johns Riverkeeper blog.

Our challenge is to the SJRWMD's recommended issuance of a permit to allow Seminole County to remove 5.5 million gallons per day (MGD) from the St. Johns River. But, our fight goes well beyond the SJRWMD legal staff.

Seminole County intervened, and frankly, they are driving the case. We're facing a tough battle; Seminole County is spending over $2 million to push the Yankee Lake permit through. They have listed 30 witnesses and 1,100 exhibits! Despite this display of money, political influence, and power, I'm feeling optimistic about our chances.

Riverkeeper has two excellent attorneys, Riverkeeper Counsel, Michael Howle, and local attorney Ken Wright. They both deserve our thanks for long hours and dedication as they prepare our case. We also have some excellent expert witnesses who will help us make our case against the proposed water withdrawal.

Thanks go to Jacksonville and St. Johns County for sticking with their individual challenges to the permit. Specifically, I want to thank Mayor Peyton and the City Council for recognizing the importance of this case and directing the city's legal efforts. Thanks, too, to Chairman Tom Manuel and his fellow commissioners in St. Johns County. We're all in this together.

We've already made progress on this issue. Two weeks ago, the SJRWMD convened a panel of experts to objectively review the potential impacts from withdrawing hundreds of millions of gallons of freshwater each day from the St. Johns and Ocklawaha Rivers. This group has some world class scientists aboard to review, and in some cases, collect data, to truly evaluate the environmental impacts of the proposed withdrawals. The results of this reanalysis will then be reviewed by a panel convened by the National Academy of Science.

None of this would have happened without Riverkeeper, other groups, and countless citizens who have challenged the SJRWMD's misguided proposal to remove freshwater from our rivers to continue unsustainable growth in Orlando and Central Florida.

Our voices and actions forced the District to conduct the type of research that should have been completed before any permit to withdraw water from the river was considered. This is real progress. Thank you.

The withdrawal issue has also cemented real relationships between citizens up and down the St. Johns River. I want to thank Friends of the Wekiva, the Sierra Club, the Seminole Audubon, and countless citizens in central Florida who oppose water withdrawals and want to see real, meaningful, water conservation programs in their counties and cities. Special thanks go out to Peggy Belflower for all her hard work.

The withdrawal battle begun a statewide debate on the future of water use in Florida. We all must be active in this debate--Our river's futures depend on it.

I'll keep you posted on the hearing through this blog. Please share it with your family and friends. If you would like mto attend the hearing contact the Riverkeeper office for directions. I'd love to see friendly faces.

Thanks for all your help and support. It means a great deal to me.

For the River,

Neil

Your St. Johns Riverkeeper

State of the River Report

An exciting project was recently announced that unfortunately did not get the attention that is certainly deserves.

The first annual State of the River Report for the Lower St. Johns River Basin was released by a team of academic researchers from Jacksonville University and University of North Florida. The project was funded primarily by the Jacksonville Environmental Protection Board.

St. Johns Riverkeeper initiated this project a few years ago and then turned it over to JU and UNF to complete.

We believe that this report is a valuable tool in evaluating the health of our river and in determining what must be done to restore the St. Johns.

We commend all of the researchers and individuals who worked so diligently on this important project.

Please, take the time to go to the River Report website and learn more about the health of your St. Johns River.

http://www.sjrreport.com/home

IF YOU DON'T KNOW JOE, YOU DON'T KNOW DIRT.

Well, St. Joe is up to their old tricks. They have muddied the creeks at their Rivertown development, once again. Not too long ago, St. Joe was fined over $40,000 by the St. Johns River Water Management District for water quality violations that resulted from faulty sediment controls, allowing construction-site runoff to enter the fragile creeks that flow through their property along SR 13. This is unacceptable, especially when they consistently claim to be such an environmentally-responsible company.

Here is an excerpt from their website:

At The St. Joe Company, conservation is more than a philosophy; it is a science we study and a practice we employ.

Today’s company is carefully, purposely walking a tightrope.
The challenge is filling the obvious need for homes, business and the
infrastructure to connect them -- while at the same time maintaining the natural
allure that draws folks to Northwest Florida in the first place.

I guess they fell off their tightrope.

Weavers Announce Challenge Grant

J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver, owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars, have awarded a challenge grant of up to $150,000 to St. Johns Riverkeeper. The matching gift will help the organization to raise awareness about threats to the health of the St. Johns and to legally challenge plans in central Florida to withdraw millions of gallons a day from the river.

The Weavers will donate one dollar for every two dollars that St. Johns Riverkeeper raises for its St. Johns River Awareness and Legal Fund up to $150,000. Neil Armingeon, the St. Johns Riverkeeper, stated that “the incredible generosity and support of the Weavers will enable us to raise the funds and acquire the resources necessary to defend and protect the health of the St. Johns River. This also sends a powerful message that the citizens and business leaders who love the river are not going to just stand idly by and allow the St. Johns River Water Management District and some public officials in central Florida to proceed with their short-sighted and irresponsible plans to take millions of gallons a day from the flow of the St. Johns River without a fight.“

“Wayne and I are deeply concerned about the plans to withdraw millions of gallons of water from the St. Johns and the potential harm that this could cause to our river,” said Delores Barr Weaver. “We absolutely love the river and recognize how important it is to Jacksonville’s economy and quality of life. We cannot just stand on the sidelines and allow Central Florida to gamble with its future. As a result, we have decided to get behind St. Johns Riverkeeper and their efforts to raise awareness about the threats facing our St. Johns and their legal challenge of the water withdrawal plans.”

As a result of years of poor planning, uncontrolled growth, and wasteful water-use practices, Central Florida communities are reaching the limits of their groundwater resources and are anxiously pursuing alternative water supply sources. Many of these communities are looking to the St. Johns River and Ocklawaha River (a major tributary of the St. Johns) to solve their water supply problems.

Seminole County is the first to submit a permit under the Alternative Water Supply (AWS) program to withdraw surface water from the St. Johns River. The proposed Yankee Lake project would withdraw an average of 5.5 million gallons per day but could exceed 11million gallons per day (MGD) during periods of high demand. However, Seminole County officials plan to eventually withdraw up to 80 MGD at the Yankee Lake facility. All of the withdrawal projects under consideration would result in a total of up to 300 million gallons per day being extracted from the St. Johns.

In February of this year, St. Johns Riverkeeper filed for an administrative hearing to challenge the permit application from Seminole County. The hearing is tentatively scheduled to take place in October.

“This is not simply a ‘water war’ between two different regions. This is also not only about stopping Seminole County from taking our water. We are advocating for a paradigm shift and a whole new approach to how we use water, how we manage water, and how we protect our water resources for this and future generations. The ultimate goal is a sustainable Florida where we have clean and healthy waterways and an adequate supply of groundwater to sustain our needs. We can have both, but we will need the resolve and political will to do so,” explains Armingeon.

You can donate on our website at http://www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org/makeadonation.asp

Coming to an Aquifer Near You

On August 12th, the Governing Board of the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) will vote on a permit application from California-based Niagara Bottling to withdraw 484,000 gallons of groundwater a day from the aquifer. Recently, the SJRWMD staff recommended that the permit be approved, and the Governing Board rarely goes against staff recommendations.

However, the Governing Board may not have a chance to vote if Lake County, Groveland, and Clermont follow through and file for an adminstrative hearing to challenge the permit application, as they have indicated that they might do.

Orange County Commissioner Teresa Jacobs sent a memo to Mayor Rich Crotty asking about the possibility of providing support to Lake County. Jacobs said, "Can anyone expect citizens across Central Florida to take water conservation seriously if the SJRWMD approves a permit for a private company to pull millions of gallons of water from the aquifer to bottle and sell throughout the country?"

Here is the contact information for the SJRWMD Governing Board members, so that you can let them know what you think about the permit.

David G. Graham, Chairman dgraham@sjrwmd.com
Susan N. Hughes, Vice Chairman shughes@sjrwmd.com
Ann T. Moore, Secretary amoore@sjrwmd.com
W. Leonard Wood, Treasurer lwood@sjrwmd.com
Douglas C. Bournique dbournique@sjrwmd.com
Michael Ertel mertel@sjrwmd.com
Hersey “Herky” Huffman hhuffman@sjrwmd.com
Arlen N. Jumper ajumper@sjrwmd.com
Hans G. Tanzler III htanzler@sjrwmd.com

Less is Best

This past week, the Jacksonville City Council passed both an irrigation ordinance and a fertilizer ordinance. The new irrigation legislation will limit watering of lawns and shrubs to twice a week and designate assigned days of the week for households and businesses. The fertilizer ordinance will limit the amount of fertilizer that can be applied on an annual basis and will require buffers along waterways where fertilizer can't be applied.

Although these ordinances are certainly not perfect and will definitely not solve all of our water use and fertilizer runoff issues, they are a good start. Hopefully, they will serve as tool to educate homeowners and businesses about the importance of conserving water and how to responsibly apply fertilizers to our lawns. Let's face it; we use an excessive amount of water (over 50% of our water is used for irrigation) and many people frequently apply far more fertilizer than is necessary. We have to start taking significant measures to curb our excesses and live more sustainably. Our river is sick, and we are reaching the limits of our aquifer, the source of over 90% of the drinking water in this state. This unfortunate situation will only get worse if we don't do something now to address the causes of these problems. These ordinances represent a first step in that direction for Jacksonville.

Muddy Waters

These photos were taken yesterday by Christopher Ball, a St. Johns Riverkeeper Board member. Neil Armingeon, the Riverkeeper, responded, trying to locate the source of the sediment. Unfortunately, it was difficult to pinpoint the culprits with absolute certainty. However, there is some reason to believe that it may have come from a Department of Transportation road project. The City of Jacksonville is still investigating the incident. We'll keep you posted about what we find out about this unfortunate situation.