Ichetucknee, Lower Santa Fe MFLs are ruled invalid by judge

The minimum flows and levels for the rivers are supposed to set a point where any additional pumping of the rivers will lead to “significant” environmental harm.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said both rivers already were flowing below those MFLs. But after a coalition of water utilities considered a legal challenge, the department adopted rules that did not address the impact on the rivers from the groundwater pumping of utilities, agricultural operations or other users who currently hold water-withdrawal permits.

Under DEP rules, any existing groundwater pumping permit that comes up for renewal without a requested increase to allowable withdrawal levels “shall be” approved for up to 20 years, with the caveat that they will be revisited after a new computer groundwater flow model for North Florida and South Georgia is in place.

Saying that the state grandfathered in existing users who impacted the rivers and did not do enough to protect the rivers, the grass-roots environmental group Ichetucknee Alliance, with assistance from the national environmental group Earthjustice, and water activist Paul Still, with the Bradford Soil & Water Conservation District, challenged the state’s adopted rules setting the MFLs.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/2...-8221-as-vague


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