The city is challenging Swiftmud's inclination to let a ranch owner pump more water when pleas from other entities are denied.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published July 30, 2003
The protracted battle over increased pumping at Crystal Springs has a new warrior.
A day before the Southwest Florida Water Management District was set to approve ranch owner Robert Thomas' request to pump thousands more gallons per day, Plant City officials filed a petition to block the deal.
The water district, commonly known as Swiftmud, had denied Plant City's requests to pump water from the springs-fed Hillsborough River, citing environmental concerns.
Now the city is challenging why Thomas should be allowed increased access to Florida's water when other entities' pleas are routinely rejected.
Thomas, who owns the springs and nearby Two Rivers Ranch, is allowed to pump 300,000 gallons a day for sale to the Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water Co. The permit on wells at his ranch allows just more than 1.2-million gallons a day.
The proposal would let him pump more from the springs in exchange for less at the ranch, and would actually result in a net decrease in the amount allowed to be pumped.
Swiftmud spokesman Michael Molligan said the move would have little or no environmental impact on the river.
"For every gallon they reduce (at the ranch), they're getting slightly over half a gallon that they can increase from the spring," Molligan said. "You reduce on the farm, you can increase at the spring."
But the attorney for Plant City says Florida law does not allow water permits to be handled like private transactions.
"It isn't their water; it isn't their property right," said Tampa lawyer Ed de la Parte, who represented Pinellas County during the costly water wars with Pasco and Hillsborough counties. "If they give up that quantity of water, they can't just direct it to their other permit. That water has to go back into the pot, so to speak."
The matter now goes before the state Department of Administrative Hearings in Tallahassee. Plant City is prepared to bring up witnesses from its own utilities department, de la Parte said.
A judge will make a recommendation, but the final decision still lies with the Swiftmud board.
