Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Stakeholders Named to North FL Regional Water Supply Partnership

Stakeholder representatives on north Florida water supply issues named

PALATKA, Fla., May 9, 2012 -- Twelve representatives were named today to the North Florida Regional Water Supply Partnership's stakeholder committee, an advisory body that will share viewpoints of stakeholder groups with the St. Johns River and Suwannee River water management districts and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to help address the region's water supply issues.

Chosen to represent the groups, organizations and entities that have an interest in the region's water supply, committee members are:
  • Public water supply: Ray O. Avery, Clay County Utility Authority; David Clanton, City of Lake City Utilities
  • Commercial/power generation: Athena T. Mann, JEA; James Cornett, Cornett's Spirit of the Suwannee Inc.
  • Industrial/mining: J. Michael O'Berry, Vulcan Materials Co.; Stan Posey, PCS Phosphate
  • Agriculture: Kerry Kates, Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association; Thomas Harper, Harper Farms
  • Environmental: Patrick T. Welsh, University of North Florida and Save Our Lakes; Jacqui Sulek, Audubon Florida
  • Local government: Keystone Heights Mayor Mary Lou Hildreth; Dixie County Commissioner Gene Higginbotham

Action Items from 5/3 Clay-Putnam MFLs Work Group Meeting

The information below is provided as follow-up to three action items from last week’s Clay-Putnam MFLs Prevention/Recovery Technical Work Group meeting.
·       Preliminary Augmentation Technical Analyses: The two analyses mentioned are posted on the SJRWMD FTP site ftp://ftp.sjrwmd.com/wsm/MFLs/PRStrategies/ClayPutnam/AugmentationSubcomm/AugSubcomm_032012/.  See “Lake Augmentation Concepts…” for the analysis conducted by CH2MHill & “SJRWMDAssessment” folder for the analysis conducted by the District.


The “KeystoneDSSConservation…” file (posted in PDF & ppt) is the basis of the statistics discussed by the Conservation Subcommittee. This document summarizes application of the SJRWMD Residential Conservation Tool we discussed during our October Work Group meeting (http://floridaswater.com/minimumflowsandlevels/pdfs/PRSD/2011_10-25_meeting/presentation-residential-agirrig.pdf).

·       North Florida Groundwater Model Domain: see model domain 1 on the attached graphic. Withdrawals within this geographic area were part of the “pumps-off” groundwater modeling scenario we discussed last week.

If the FTP site asks you for a password, click the “guest” radio button, type in “anonymous” for the user name, and use your email address as the password.
    
Thank you all for your continued interest and participation.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Gihring

May 22 Meeting for LAWA

We are planning a meeting of the Lake Area Water Alliance for Tuesday, May 22nd, 6:30PM at the KH Woman’s Club.  If you cannot come please send at least one representative from your organization.  We should have a lot of information to share as there will be reports from our Lake Recovery Stakeholders, Mayor Hildreth about FLOW meetings and possibly a report from Joyce King about the Audubon meeting they have planned with JEA.

To be effective, we need input from all of our organizations to move forward in our unified effort to replenish our aquifer and restore our lakes.  Also, I would also like to suggest that we discuss coordinating a clean up day of Lake Geneva with the City of KH.  It would be fantastic if all of our organizations get on board with this. While it is at a historic low would be an excellent time to clean up the garbage, and this would be a great opportunity to bring attention to our efforts as an organization, conservation initiatives, etc. 

Sincerely,
Jackie Host, President

Florida's Perfect Storm Water Crisis

Two articles from Dr Robert L. Knight, founder and director of the H.T. Odum Florida Springs Institute, a Gainesville-based nonprofit organization:
The stated mission of the Florida Springs Institute is: "to provide a focal point for improving the understanding of springs ecology and to foster the development of science-based education and management actions needed to restore and protect springs throughout Florida."

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Silver Springs Alliance

Dear Friends,
I joined the Springs Alliance and this is what they sent me so I thought I would pass this info on to you.  If you are so inclined, it costs only $15 to join the alliance.  It is a very worthy cause. This is an example of how big money is draining Florida of all it’s natural resources to line the pockets of a few.  It should be a crime to keep issuing water withdrawal permits in a severe drought.  What we have here is the Fox guarding the hen house.  It is about time to call for our water management board members to be elected locally instead of letting the Governor appoint all of his cronies who apparently care more about making money than protecting our water. 
Jackie

ATTACHMENTS:

From: Natalie Lyons [mailto:silverspringsalliance@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 10:53 AM
To: Barbara Schwartz
Subject: Silver Springs Alliance - Welcome New Members!
 

 
Dear New Member,

 
On behalf of the Board of Directors, we welcome you to the Silver Springs Alliance.  Thank you for your interest, support, and participation. We look forward to working together to preserve Silver Springs and keep the Springshed flourishing.
SSA is very new. Its founders include springs scientists, water specialists, a former county Commissioner, veteran environmental activists, teachers, community leaders and students.  We are united by our  scientifically supported conviction that Silver Springs-Florida’s most famous springs-needs our help. Its waters are degraded and its flow is diminished.

 
That’s why our main purpose is to be an advocate for Silver Springs; to restore  and protect the Springs for future generations. We are also committed to protecting and preserving  the Floridan Aquifer; source of the Springs, rivers and waterways, as well as  the water we drink, bathe in and grow our food in.
The biggest threat to Silver Springs right now is the Adena Springs Ranch project now being constructed in the Fort McCoy area within the Springshed.  This project includes a projected 30,000 head of cattle, a slaughterhouse, 135 large diameter wells, and a pending water permit (CUP-consumptive use permit) for 13.27 MILLION GALLONS OF WATER PER DAY. Water from OUR aquifer!

 
Robert Knight, PHD, of the Florida Springs Institute, and an SSA Board member states “That’s more than the city of Ocala consumes every day. The manure generated daily by the herd of 30,000 cattle expected on the ranch would be the equivalent  to that of 240,00 humans.”
We have a website! www.silverspringsalliance.org.  We are in the process of improving and expanding it every day, so tune in often.

 
Reach us via e-mail as well: silverspringsalliance@gmail.com.  We are also on Facebook and Twitter!
I am forwarding and attaching information about taking action on the Adena project. Please pass on to other interested people and give them our email/web addresses if they would like to join.

 
Upcoming events are as follows:
Saturday, April 28: EarthFest @ Tuscawilla Park in Ocala. We will have an information table there.

 
Thursday, May 3: Dr. Knight will be addressing the Conservation Trust of Florida. I will attach the information.
Tuesday, May 15: Public Forum in Jacksonville.  In conjunction with the Saint Johns  Riverkeeper. Attached.

 
Wednesday, May 16: Rainbow Springs event. Attached
Saturday, May 19: Rainbow River cleanup & Rainbow River Coalition event. More to come.

 

 
Barbara Schwartz
Secretary, BOD
Silver Springs Alliance

Water Levels Continue to Drop

Water Levels Continue to Drop, article from Citrus County Chronicle Online