SRWMD designates four basins as water resource caution areas

Submitted

The Suwannee River Water Management District (District) is one step closer to developing a plan to meet water demands in areas of critical concern.
The District’s Governing Board on Oct. 11 designated the Alapaha River Basin, Upper Suwannee River Region, and Upper and Lower Santa Fe river basins as water resource caution areas. The District’s 2010 Water Supply Assessment designated those areas as water supply planning regions last December, and under chapter 62-40.520(2), Florida Administrative Code, the District is required to designate those areas as water resource caution areas within a 12-month period.

The designation means that groundwater sources in those areas are not adequate to meet future needs over a 20-year period and that regional water supply plans are needed to find water sources to meet demands. The designation also means that the District will initiate water supply planning in those regions and will prepare one or more regional water supply plans.
The District is required under Chapter 373, Florida Statutes, to develop regional water supply plans for areas where groundwater sources are not adequate to meet future needs over a 20-year period.
The District’s 2010 Water Supply Assessment addressed declining groundwater levels in the northeastern portion of the District due to regional withdrawals. These areas include parts of Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Suwannee, and Union counties.
“These declining levels are predicted to impact river and spring flows in certain areas over the next 20 years,” said Carlos Herd, District water supply project manager.
The District has begun to identify strategies to offset projected water resource impacts. On Oct. 11, the governing board approved a measure to allow the District to seek funding assistance for a study to find ways to recharge the Upper Floridan aquifer. The District will also expand its reclaimed water program and employ water conservation measures to help recover groundwater levels and prevent additional water resource impacts.
The District is also preparing an update to its regional groundwater flow model in order to better predict water resource impacts that may occur from groundwater withdrawals. The District continues development of minimum flows and levels (MLFs) to determine the amount of water that can be removed from the natural system without causing significant harm to the resources and the ecology.
The District is working with the St. Johns River Water Management District in its water supply planning process to address concerns over declining groundwater levels that are affecting both districts. Both districts and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection entered into an interagency agreement in September, which requires the districts to coordinate on water use permitting and water supply planning activities when proposed withdrawals may contribute to impacts across district boundaries.