Saying, “The idea of a group like ours coming as supplicants seems absurd,” Ichetucknee Alliance President John Jopling opened a meeting with representatives of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Suwannee River Water Management District to ask those state agencies, which are charged with protecting Florida’s natural resources, to begin to enforce state laws to protect the Ichetucknee River System.
Jopling and other members of the board of directors of the Ichetucknee Alliance met on February 3, 2015, with Drew Bartlett, Deputy Secretary of Water Policy and Eco Restoration at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP); Janet Llewellyn, Director of FDEP’s Office of Water Policy; and Ann Shortelle, Executive Director of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD). The Alliance requested the meeting to express concerns about the ongoing degradation of the Ichetucknee River System (the river, springs and the Floridan aquifer that supplies our drinking water), to make recommendations for the system’s recovery, and to press the agencies to enforce Florida law.
The Ichetucknee River was designated an Outstanding Florida Water in 1984 and, by law, was supposed to be fully protected after receiving that designation. Degradation of the river system has continued since that time, however, and remains ongoing. According to Dr. Robert Knight, head of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute and a member of the Alliance’s board of directors, nitrate nitrogen concentrations in the Ichetucknee headspring have risen by about 40 percent since 1984. Since the 1960s, average flows in the river and springs have declined by about 23 percent. Moreover, the minimum flow and level (MFL) that the agencies are proposing for the Ichetucknee allows a flow reduction of 8 million gallons per day in addition to a 15-million-gallons-per-day reduction that has already occurred.
At the meeting, Knight presented scientific evidence about these flow declines and increases in pollution. He also presented evidence that there is no long-term decline in rainfall—which is often blamed for reduced flows in the Ichetucknee—as well as evidence from the U.S. Geological Survey that increases in groundwater pumping throughout North Florida are consistent with the amount of flow that the Ichetucknee has lost.
The State of Florida invested close to $40 million to acquire the property that became Ichetucknee Springs State Park as well as nearby properties that were needed to protect the river and the springs. The park, the springs and the river are beloved natural, economic, social and spiritual assets not only for residents of Columbia County but also for residents throughout Florida, the United States and the world. The Alliance believes that by allowing the Ichetucknee River System to continue to degrade, our state agencies are violating the trust that the public has placed in them to follow state law.
The Alliance believes that these impairments to the Ichetucknee River System are unacceptable and that state laws to protect the system should be enforced. To correct these problems, the Alliance recommended that the agencies take the following actions:
- Set a more appropriate MFL target (pre-1960 flows) for flow recovery.
- Implement an emergency water shortage order or water reservation to require permitted groundwater users to significantly cut back on pumping.
- Halt new agricultural development until nitrogen loads have been reduced to acceptable levels.
- Implement advanced agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) to achieve a groundwater nitrate-nitrogen concentration of 0.35 mg/L.
- Create an Ichetucknee Springs and River Restoration Focus and Demonstration Area.
- Develop a comprehensive recovery plan for the Ichetucknee that includes an accelerated timeline, an emergency water shortage order, a moratorium on all new water use permits (over 100,000 gallons a day) in the springshed, and a requirement to reduce all existing agricultural and urban fertilizer loads in the springshed.
While the Alliance recognizes that some of the problems at Ichetucknee can be blamed on regional water use from as far away as Jacksonville/Duval County, we believe that solving those problems must begin here at home and that the Suwannee River Water Management District has the legal authority it needs to take immediate steps to restore the Ichetucknee River System. The Alliance is ready, willing and able to work with SRWMD and FDEP toward that goal.
In summary, the Alliance requested that the agencies use every available tool to comply with Florida law and with state water quality and quantity standards at Ichetucknee Springs. We asked for a reply to our concerns and recommendations within 60 days.
To see the presentation that Dr. Bob Knight made at the meeting, click here.