Fresh Take Florida
A small group of protesters gathers outside the Suwannee River Water Management District building on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, in Live Oak, Fla.
Critics promised immediately to appeal the decision affecting Ginnie Springs by the seven-member governing board of the Suwannee River Water Management District.
In the face of stark local environmental opposition, a state water board on Tuesday unanimously approved “with protest” pumping about 1 million gallons daily for Nestle s bottled water business from one of the treasured natural springs along the Santa Fe River in north-central Florida.
Critics promised immediately to appeal the decision affecting Ginnie Springs by the seven-member governing board of the Suwannee River Water Management District. It was a blow to environmentalists, who said further pumping of the crystal blue waters would put at risk the health of an already taxed river and its surrounding ecosystem.
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PANAMA CITY The Bay County Commission recently agreed to pave more of the county s dirt roads.
The county awarded a contract for a little more than $454,000 to Roberts and Roberts Inc. to pave almost a mile of dirt roads, which includes Wiregrass Boulevard and West Smith Road. Commissioners have put a premium on trying to eliminate runoff from dirt roads that flows into the creeks and streams that lead to the bays.
The project is expected to be completed in 90 days after the contractor gets a notice to proceed. If the project takes longer than 90 days, $1,170 will be deducted from the contract for each day the project runs over.
A major lawsuit filed by a coalition environmentalists over the polluting of Florida springs has resulted in a ruling favoring state regulators but the springs advocates vow to fight on.
“It’s really a travesty,” said Deborah Shelley, who was the manager of the state’s Wekiva River Aquatic Preserve from 1987 to 2017. She noted that pollution from sewage and fertilizer holds the river system’s health under chronic distress. But the mass of eroding soil gorging and displacing the Little Wekiva is unsurpassed in her memory as a single act of harm.
“It is one of the most devastating events that has happened to the Wekiva over the years,” Shelley said.
The Wekiva River is one of two rivers in Florida with a federal Wild and Scenic designation. The Wekiva system, including springs, tributaries, wetlands and forest, and crowded by metro Orlando and suburban Lake County, has been one Florida’s most costly and challenging environmental treasures to protect.