water management vs cavedivers (please need info)

[Jim Coke]

In Mexico, the Federal Government owns every bit of fresh and salt water in the country. If you drill a well, the Feds own the water and you will be taxed for the luxury of using this resource. If you use deep injection wells to hide your black water (injecting it into a deeper inland salt water intrusion), you are taxed a second time for this luxury. My point being; who owns the water below your feet?

If the DR government owns the water (many countries throughout the world own their water), then you have a problem with private enterprise encouraging federal government corruption. If the DR does not own/maintain/protect their water sources, then this is another (double-edged sword) option to consider.

I would suggest that your first option is to investigate the water laws in DR. Are DR Resorts able to restrict access to DR cave entrances? Restricting access to cave entrances in Mexico is becoming quite popular these days. The "new" resort consortium can build what they want to without an "thorough" Environmental Impact Statement.

I have a copy of a 2006 M.Sc Thesis (Multi-Objective Optimization of Land Use Patterns in the Sian Ka'an Bioshere Reserve Catchment, Quintana Roo Mexico) by Andrea Tampei of the Technological University of Denmark. It is a public document. I can send it to you.

As others have posted, a collection of good cave maps and evidence of DRSS support for local science/hydrology projects is great PR for you. I think you should establish "who" owns and regulates the "subterranean" water first.

Jim

[Neptuno]

very good points jim, please, send the docs to me, that will help some info@dr-ss.com
is a long story the access to this particular site, I can tell you in private.

[Jim Coke]

Sent. My apologies for the large attachment.

[Neptuno]

that's not large at all!! hehe thanks jim, that has some interesting bits here and there, hope some more people send me different stuff.

[Kelly Jessop]

If cave diving is seen as ecotourism that brings in visitors to these hotels,then loss of cave divers equals loss of tourist money. Hence hotels/resorts are very sensitive to anything that will hurt tourism. Hate to say it,but their concern for water management/quality would be secondary.

[mpoucher]

There is a water plant that pumps out of Madison Blue and cave diving is still allowed. The state of Florida owns all the land under water and navigable waterways are accessible to the public so most springs are accessible by water. As far as I know, there is no case law for caves and access. Probably your strongest argument will be the economic impact of cave/cavern diving tourism. I've seen figures of around $100 per person per day impact on the local economy here in Florida.

[Al]

It might have nothing to do with protecting the water - developers might not want the caves to be explored and mapped, as knowledge of the locations of the caves might interfere with their plans.

[Neptuno]

I still trying to collect info, not sure if tourism is the best point of view in this case, but could be mentioned it will help something, I think will try to point it more to new discoveries, exploration, knowledge, etc. and have the tourism as a convincing point for the hotels.

is there more caves where water is taken and divers allowed?

[FW]

I still trying to collect info, not sure if tourism is the best point of view in this case, but could be mentioned it will help something, I think will try to point it more to new discoveries, exploration, knowledge, etc. and have the tourism as a convincing point for the hotels.

is there more caves where water is taken and divers allowed?

Technically Ginnie Springs, but the intake is a good ways away from where the divers go. There are well casings in Manatee, and Little River, but I don't know how active they are.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Thankfully, Nestle just pulled back from pumping in the Wacissa. They say because the seasonal water level drops, but I think a large part of it is the huge outcry against them from locals and surrounding nature advocates.