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A preserve, except for when they say it isn't

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published May 28, 2006

My friends in Pinellas County government say my portrayal of their plan to pump up to 1-million gallons of water a day out of the Brooker Creek Preserve is unfair. My friendly reply is, they can't have it both ways.

On the one hand, the county pats itself on the back mightily for assembling the preserve, which occupies 8,500 acres in the northeastern part of the county, close to the Hillsborough and Pasco county lines.

I pat the county on the back, too. It's a great thing that Pinellas has set aside almost 10 percent of its land area at Brooker Creek and elsewhere - not parks, which come on top of that, but land set aside solely for nature.

On the other hand, Pinellas County is proving all too willing to poke holes in the preserve when it is convenient. So far in Brooker Creek, we have recreational fields, a water-blending facility, a plant for removing hydrogen sulfide from drinking water, a planned equestrian center and now this proposed pumping.

In each instance, the county says: But that part's not really the preserve! This part was just an old dairy farm. That part over there? Years ago it was an old pine-tree farm. Heck, we're just using crappy old "disturbed" land.

That misses the point. Not all of the Brooker Creek Preserve is pristine. Some of it is recovering land. The very purpose of a "preserve'' is to, you know, preserve. The county's own plan for Brooker Creek speaks glowingly of the goal of restoring such lands.

Next, the county says that the pumping (which would be used to irrigate a nearby golf course) would occur on land that "belongs'' to the county's Utilities Department, which is "entitled'' to use it as it sees fit.

I am a dumb citizen. So I do not believe that one department can "own'' public land or that it is "entitled'' to do squat.

Again, the county wants it both ways. While the rest of us see the name, "Brooker Creek Preserve,'' the county sees the name, "Brooker Creek Preserve, Hooray for Us - Until the Utilities Department Wants To Use It.''

Next, the county says that pumping up to 1-million gallons a day would have little or no environmental effect on the preserve.

To be blunt, the Pinellas County Utilities Department is not the one to make that judgment. The track record screams the opposite. There are those in the department who deny to this day that Pinellas' past overpumping in Pasco County had anything to do with the sinkholes, toppled trees and collapsing houses up there over the decades.

Already in its test pumping in Brooker Creek last summer, by the county's own admission, it used a different well than originally authorized, pumped several weeks longer than authorized, did not ask for permission for what it was doing until six weeks past the deadline, did not make the required daily reports, initially reported a final pumping figure that was only roughly three-quarters of the true amount, and figured it all was okay because the county called up Joe-Bob or Rusty or some such guy and got "verbal'' (they mean oral) permission to do it.

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. And that was the test pumping.

On Thursday, the regional water district sent Pinellas County a letter about that test pumping. It was not a friendly little note from Joe Bob or Rusty.

"Please be advised that in the future," the district's letter said, "if you intend to deviate from the district's written authorization for a test program, you must request and receive a new written authorization for your test program signed by the Tampa Regulation Department prior to withdrawing quantities associated with the test program.''

This is not reassuring.

Finally, because nothing is totally black and white, the county has one argument that makes sense to me. By pumping this nondrinkable water to use for irrigation, it frees up that much usable water for the rest of us. It also makes more reclaimed water available, and reclaimed water is in high demand.

Decide for yourself if it's worth it.

When I make fun of County Administrator Steve Spratt, the Utilities Department and the County Commission, feelings get hurt, so for that I apologize. I do not think they are bad people, and I do think they work hard to serve a county of nearly 1-million people.

However, I also think they are prone to taking the convenient way out and are out of step with the public's strong sentiment on these matters. One more time: The county wants to have it both ways. Either preserve the preserve, or drop the pretense and accept the consequences.

[Last modified May 28, 2006, 04:37:04]