SRWMD approves new irrigation permits

By John M. Ayers

The Suwannee River Water Management District governing board approved four permits that will allow the withdrawal of over 5 million gallons of water per day from the Floridian Aquifer in the upper Santa Fe River Basin on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011 during a meeting held at the district headquarters in Live Oak.
The district governing board’s approval follows a meeting recently held in Lake City where public officials and citizens from three North Florida counties reviewed ways to stop a water consumption permit requested by Jacksonville Electric Authority to pump up to 155 million gallons of water per day from the aquifer.
However, SRWMD Executive Director David Still said the permits were approved based on statutory requirements.
“We base our decisions on statutes, regulations and scientific evidence,” Still stated. “We have a job to do and that is to follow regulations. Staff makes a recommendation to the board and the board can either accept or reject that recommendation.”
Save Our Suwannee, a local conservation group is concerned about the minimum flow levels. Annette Long, of Save Our Suwannee explained that the numbers currently being used for the SRWMD are “outdated”.
“We haven’t had ‘normal’ rain here in Florida for decades and we are in an established 13-year drought. Knowing that, you are still permitting withdrawals of our water resources with historical levels built in to the model,” Long explained in a presentation to the board.
Still said that the SRWMD is currently working on new minimum flows and levels for the District’s rivers and springs and they will be released between 2012 and 2016. The minimum flows and levels for the lower Santa Fe River are expected sometime in the beginning of 2012, Still reported.
The minimum flows and levels are implemented statutorily by the Legislature and it is the District’s responsibility to follow them, the executive director explained.
Three of the permits approved at the December 13 meeting are for farms in Gilchrist County. Loncala Dairies, owned by Alliance Grazing Group, was approved to pump 3.8 million gallons per day. That permit was applied for on Sept. 15. This new farm is reported to be involved in the cultivation of row crops for several years before a dairy will come into operation. Piedmont Dairy, also a company of Alliance Grazing Group, will pump an additional 900,000 gallons and William Douberly Farm will pump an additional 500,000 gallons.
Coggins Acres in Madison County will pump an additional 300,000 gallons a day for irrigation purposes as well.
The Gilchrist County Commission has invited Still to attend their January 3, 2012 meeting to discuss issues that involve both the county and the Suwannee River Water Management District. This meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Facility on south Main Street. The public is welcome to attend this meeting.