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Review of rivers to last 4 years
By DAN DeWITT BROOKSVILLE -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is set to embark on a four-year, $6-million study of the Withlacoochee and Hillsborough rivers and their common source, the Green Swamp. The corps will study every aspect of these rivers and their watersheds: water quality, quantity, flood control and threats to their environmental health. "It's going to be a long study that involves a lot of effort," said Dennis Duke, acting program director for restoration at the corps' Jacksonville District. President George W. Bush approved $675,000 for the first year of the study as part of a large appropriations bill on Nov. 1. U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman, D-Dunnellon, pushed for the study to be funded. The Southwest Florida Water Management District agreed to match the federal grant, either with money or staff time and other resources, said spokesman Michael Molligan. It is true that these rivers and the Green Swamp already have been studied extensively, Thurman said. But these systems obviously still have problems, one of which inspired the study, she said. Residents and local officials talked to Thurman about an analysis of the Withlacoochee during the heavy flooding in the winter of 1997-98, she said. Two years later, the river was so dry it was possible to walk down long stretches of its bed. The Hillsborough, which the city of Tampa taps for drinking water, has also gone dry repeatedly over the past two years. "Over the past several years, we've had times when we've been flooded and times when we've had no water," Thurman said. Duke said the corps will specifically look at the environment of the rivers and swamp. This is partly because the agency is dealing with the costs of trying to restore the Everglades that have climbed to about $11-billion, Duke said. "A lot of attention will be given to environmental issues," he said of the study. "The Everglades restoration -- that project is all about restoring the natural water flow. What we're looking at as one of the main focuses of this study is to avoid that situation. There's a lot of development pressure there, and there's a high water demand on both those systems."
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