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Deal lets bottler shift water source
By ALEX LEARY © St. Petersburg Times, published April 11, 2001 CRYSTAL RIVER -- Averting a protracted struggle between business interests and those of environmentalists, the company seeking to bottle water from Three Sisters Spring agreed Tuesday to use a different source and limit its operation during the winter, when manatees rely on the spring for survival. The settlement was offered by Three Sisters Springs Water Co. during a meeting of the Division of Administrative Hearings in Tampa. The water company was contesting a recommended permit denial issued by Southwest Florida Water Management District experts. Swiftmud said the bottled water plan as originally proposed was risky because it would draw from Three Sisters Spring, a vital water source for the endangered manatee, which flocks to the warm springs in the Crystal River area each winter when the Gulf of Mexico cools. John Parker, Swiftmud's water use regulation manager, said the settlement calls for the water company to pump from a small "lake" a few hundred feet away from Three Sisters Spring. The lake water comes from the same source as the spring, so the company could make the same advertising claims. The water company, Parker said, also offered to curtail its operation during "critical" times in the winter "in order to prevent themselves from having any effect on the thermal plumes of water in which the manatees take refuge." What's more, the company would donate about an acre adjacent to the existing Three Sisters manatee sanctuary. The property would allow better scientific research and, perhaps, limited public viewing of manatees. "We're very pleased with the way things are going," said Patti Thompson of the Save The Manatee Club, which has fought the bottle water proposal. "Most important, it's a win for the manatees." Representatives from Three Sisters Springs Water Co., which is controlled by Harvey Goodman, one of the owners of the 60 acres surrounding the spring, could not be reached for comment. The settlement is still subject to final approval from Swiftmud, the Save the Manatee Club and the water company. "We all came away from this viewing it as a win-win-win," Parker said.
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