Central Florida gains approval to drain the St. Johns to water lawns

[mtraininjax]

Jeffrey....uh....er the TU article Sunday showed the impact that the NE Florida population has had on the water table in NE Florida. Travel into Mandarin or some of the older parts of Jax, and see how many manhole covers are lacking. We have thousands of people still on wells, that go drier and drier every year. I suppose the sand we sucked up our well was a figure of our imagination, needing to drill down 300 feet to hit water. We kept Partridge Wells in OP very busy year after year.

You can't keep adding people without a cost. The water in Keystone may be back due to the rains we have had this summer, but what goes up also goes down, and the 5 million gallons that Mickey plans to pull out will cause the STJR to go salted soon, not in the next 5 years, but once the next real estate boom kicks back in, we are going to be in the same issues we were a few years back, by then Mickey will be draining the river for 50 million gallons.

[riverkeepered]

Our groundwater resources are connected, and what happens in Jacksonville can impact the water levels in Keystone and surrounding areas.  Here is an article from the Gainesville Sun speculating that Jacksonville could be partially responsible for lower groundwater levels in Alachua, as well.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090915/ARTICLES/909151003/1002?Title=County-agency-to-conduct-water-conservation-study

Water issues affect us all and must be addressed on a statewide and national level.  We really have a water use problem and not a water supply problem.  All of us use way too much water, and the root causes of our water shortages must be addressed and adequately resolved before we seek new sources.  If we don't, water withdrawal schemes, desalination, and other "alternative water supply" sources will never effectively quench our insatiable thirst and will end up costing us billions of dollars and significant impacts to our environment. 

[JeffreyS]

Jeffrey....uh....er the TU article Sunday showed the impact that the NE Florida population has had on the water table in NE Florida. Travel into Mandarin or some of the older parts of Jax, and see how many manhole covers are lacking. We have thousands of people still on wells, that go drier and drier every year. I suppose the sand we sucked up our well was a figure of our imagination, needing to drill down 300 feet to hit water. We kept Partridge Wells in OP very busy year after year.

You can't keep adding people without a cost. The water in Keystone may be back due to the rains we have had this summer, but what goes up also goes down, and the 5 million gallons that Mickey plans to pull out will cause the STJR to go salted soon, not in the next 5 years, but once the next real estate boom kicks back in, we are going to be in the same issues we were a few years back, by then Mickey will be draining the river for 50 million gallons.

Certainly more people use more water. The lake problem in Keystone happen to be even more localized issues.


The Florida aquifer is a big system that suffers regionally.  The lake problem in Keystone was caused by commercial ventures in clay county and 20 years of lower than normal rain in a very localized area.  The county has repaired most of the damage caused by the sand mining operations diverted water via Alligator creek and a few other runoff patterns coupled with two years of great rain patterns have paid off big time. 
To the extent that the Aquifer may have been able to mitigate the problems in Keystone it's neighbors  have effected the area.

[British Shoe Company]

I heard that every 40 yrs. the lakes in Keystone Heights go dry, and fill.  Does anybody have any history confirming that?

[riverkeepered]

Here's an article from today's T-U about the impact that our water use in NE FL has on counties to the west and SW of us.
http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2009-10-06/story/jacksonville_area_could_pull_hard_on_inland_aquifer_forecast_says

We must begin to acknowledge that our impacts are widespread and our water use can affect other regions, as well.  As long as we allow ourselves to be distracted by sidebar issues and continue to avoid the root causes of our water problem, we will continue to have water woes and will continue to needlessly spend millions of dollars on "silver bullet" solutions to our problems.   We have to first admit that we have a water use problem. 

Next, we will have to change the state statutes and the policies that manage and govern our water resources and direct the agencies that are charged with this task.   The water issues that are starting to grab headlines didn't pop up overnight.  They have been in the making for decades and unfortunately are just now getting our attention. 

[riverkeepered]

Ron Littlepage's recent column does a pretty good job of summing up the water problem. 
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/columnists/ron_littlepage/2009-10-16/story/florida_needs_to_follow_lead_of_texas_in_protecti

No one in Florida wants to accept personal responsibility for the problem, and no one is demonstrating the bold leadership that is needed to implement the significant changes that are necessary in how we manage, allocate, and use water in this state. 

We talk about the importance of conserving water, yet residents continue to thumb their noses at the irrigation rule, local governments don't go far enough to effectively enforce the ordinances, and the water management districts continue to give away water to whoever comes asking. 

As a result of our inefficient and wasteful use of water, significant battles are ensuing over water in this state.  North Florida is trying to stop Central Florida from taking water from the river to use for irrigation and eventually drinking purposes.  Recently, Lake County and Groveland sued the water management district to prevent the Niagara bottling plant from getting a permit for nearly 500,000 gallons of water a day from the aquifer in their community.  Marion County is in an ongoing legal battle with an applicant trying to suck water from the aquifer to sell to a bottled water company.   Now, Alachua and counties to our west are concerned that we may be overpumping from the aquifer causing harm to their springs, rivers, and groundwater supplies.  This has only just begun.

The stakes are extremely high, and there is no telling how ugly this will get, if we don't get a handle on how inefficiently we use water.  Seminole County is currently utilizing questionable legal tactics to apparently try and get the upperhand in the "water war".  Read the Riverkeeper blog, Riverhugger, about the sanctions filed by Seminole against Riverkeeper, its attorneys, and the City of Jax to see what I mean.
http://www.riverhugger.com/2009/10/seminole-charade.html

I just hope we all wake up real soon and realize what a precious and limited resource water really is and how foolish it is (both economically and environmentally) to continue to waste it.

[stjr]

We need a T. Boone Pickens of water! 

Why can't our political leaders ever show some leadership?  Must we always wait until irreversible harm takes place before we even think of what to do next?

The reality is it's Developers vs. Environment/Water, and we know who always wins in the halls of government.