A new front in Florida's water wars

A plan would pipe 43-million gallons from Hernando and Citrus to fast-growing Central Florida.

By DAN DeWITT, Times Staff Writer
Published September 20, 2007

The St. John's River Water Management District is backing a proposal to pipe 43-million gallons of water from the Withlacoochee River and Lake Rousseau to fast-growing Central Florida regions such as Clermont, Leesburg and Marion County. Hernando County Commissioners oppose the plan.
	[RON THOMPSON | Times (1995)]

BROOKSVILLE - After decades of fending off threats to pump their water south, Hernando and Citrus counties now find themselves fighting a plan to ship water east.

The St. John's River Water Management District is backing a proposal to pipe 43-million gallons of water from the Withlacoochee River and Lake Rousseau, in northern Citrus County, to fast-growing Central Florida regions such as Clermont, Leesburg and Marion County.

It reminded some Hernando residents of the idea, abandoned more than a decade ago, to withdraw water from Lake Rousseau for cities in the Tampa Bay area, and the more recent Council of 100 plan to pump water from northern Florida to South Florida.

As with those ideas, this one inspired fighting words.

"This will happen over my cold, dead corpse," said Hernando County Commissioner David Russell.

"We need to let them know real quick and real soon that we oppose this plan," said Commissioner Chris Kingsley, who is also a board member of the Withlacoochee Regional Water Supply Authority, which covers Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the council voted to do as Kingsley suggested and to direct its attorney to research whether the proposal is legal.

That question could turn on whether surface water -- the water in lakes and rivers -- is protected under the 11-year-old law that requires local governments to tap their own sources before seeking water elsewhere.

It clearly is, said Dave Moore, executive director of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, who attended Wednesday's meeting.

Russell, a former state representative, agreed: "In my mind, they would have to change state law to get this done."

St. John's officials have argued that surface water is not covered, said Jack Sullivan, executive director of the water supply authority. He believes it is, he said at the meeting on Wednesday, though some of the state's water use policy is unclear, especially if surface water is considered an alternate source.

That is exactly how it is viewed by local governments in Central Florida, said Hal Wilkening, St. John's director of resource management.

The district has directed these communities to find alternate supplies because not enough water remains in the aquifer to feed future development.

St. John's "anticipates that the development of future groundwater projects will be minimal because of stresses on groundwater availability," said a report prepared earlier this year for the Lake County Water Alliance, a collection of cities in the county.

The same report, which was partly paid for by St. John's, estimated demand for water by alliance members would double by 2030.

Wilkening said plans to tap surface water -- still in their early stages -- include the massive Villages project, most of which is in Sumter County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District, commonly known as Swiftmud.

One proposal was presented at a meeting of utilities and local governments in Orlando on July 18. It anticipated pumping water from the lower Ocklawaha and St. John's rivers to the Villages, meaning his district is taking a regional approach.

"There's no back room plan that somebody is going to ship water from the Withlacoochee across Sumter to Lake County," Wilkening said.

Except development patterns almost ensure that will happen, said Joe Murphy, conservation chairman of the Hernando Audubon Society.

"There's no way we're going to say, 'Come on over, harvest some water for Clermont.'"

Dan DeWitt can be reached at dewitt@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6116.

[Last modified September 19, 2007, 22:55:27]