BROOKSVILLE - The Southwest Florida Water Management District has approved the purchase of about 44 acres of environmentally sensitive land in northwestern Hernando County.
Swiftmud's governing board on Tuesday voted to pay $35,994 for a 4.4-acre parcel and $278,480 for a 40-acre tract. Both properties are north of Centralia Road. The land is part of the district's Annutteliga Hammock Project, which the district approved in 1996, partly to preserve land needed to recharge the aquifer. Swiftmud originally planned to buy about 29,000 acres through the program, but rising land prices have forced it to reduce that goal to 14,000 acres, of which about 2,500 acres has been purchased.
