Water management district officials say Marion no longer expected to have sufficient groundwater to meet the demand in 2030
By Fred Hiers
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Marion County's luck in having enough groundwater to not need alternative sources is expected to soon run dry.
St. Johns River Water Management District officials said during a Thursday planning meeting that most of the area, which has been designated as having enough groundwater to meet 2030 population demands, probably won't be on that list any longer when the water agency finishes its water supply report and recommendations this year.
That means counties like Marion and Alachua will have to make plans as to where they will get the water they will need some future day, other than tapping into more groundwater sources.
"To them, it's going to make a big difference," St. Johns River Water Management District project manager David Hornsby said, when discussing how utilities will have to change strategies.
For the past seven years, the water agency tagged seven counties in its district - which included Marion - as "potentially" not being able to meet 2030 water demands using groundwater without doing unacceptable harm to water resources and related environment.
The alternative designation, which is more severe, is to be in a priority water resource caution area. That means the area's proposed water sources would for certain not meet water demand needs without doing harm.
About half the water district's counties currently fall in that category.
Once a utility area has the harsher designation, the water agency determines the maximum amount of groundwater it would be allowed to siphon and the date it is expected to be reached.
From then on, the water agency decides how much water the utility is required to get from alternative sources, such as lakes, rivers, desalination or conservation.
Marion County's lesser designation meant it has been able to avoid having to start drawing up plans for the water agency as to how it might one day have to get water after groundwater was limited.
Although population projections for Florida are down since the beginning of the recession, Hornsby said water agency staffers will almost certainly this summer recommend to their board that the seven counties be bumped into the more stringent category. The final report and recommendations will be submitted in December.
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About 50 people were at the meeting on Thursday in Gainesville, which was hosted by the St. Johns River Management District and the Suwannee River Water Management District.
The meeting was one of many required by Florida law in determining the state's water assessment needs, and more will be held in coming months.
The water assessments are re-established every five years.
The issue of alternative water sources has been one of contention between Florida water agencies and environmentalists.
The St. Johns River Water Management District is already studying how much water utilities can draw from the St. Johns and Ocklawaha rivers, something environmentalists oppose.
While requiring counties to start making plans for alternative water sources will require much more planning, many utilities say they saw the shift coming.
"These things are planned for years in advance," said Gainesville Regional Utilities spokesman Dan Jesse. "(GRU) is familiar with the trends. We plan for things like this all the time."
City of Ocala Utilities is also preparing for the groundwater tap to one day limit the city's draw. City officials have already told St. Johns they are interested in the Ocklawaha River as a potential water source if the water agency allows utilities to tap into the river.
Some people attending Thursday's meeting said they were concerned the water agencies weren't doing enough to protect Florida's waters, especially springs and rivers.
Kathy Cantwell of Gainesville said water agencies were too eager to designate surface waters as alternative water supplies.
"If you're taking surface water, isn't it going to impact the groundwater?" she said during the meeting's question and answer period. "We're all connected, so I don't know why it's an alternative."
Gainesville resident Bob Palmer complained that water agency measurements for ground and surface waters don't reflect that those levels have been decreasing for decades. He said healthy levels should be determined using water levels dating back many more decades before Florida's huge development.
But Hornsby said surface water won't be the only alternative source to be considered. Instead, water reclamation will be on the forefront, Hornsby said, and utilities will be urged to do all they could to reuse what water they have.
"We're going to ride that horse as hard as we can." Hornsby said.
Contact Fred Hiers at 352-867-4157 or fred.hiers@starbanner.com.
http://www.ocala.com/article/20100130/ARTICLES/1301016/1402/NEWS?p=all&tc=pgall
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