Volusia Blue Spring Pumping

[MilFalcon]

Manatees' wintering area may be at risk
A plan might reduce flow at Volusia's Blue Spring, winter home to about 200 sea cows.

Ludmilla Lelis | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 10, 2006

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...home-headlines

PALATKA -- In the ongoing battle between west Volusia County's booming development and the need to protect the nearly 200 manatees that winter there, the developers came out on top Tuesday.

The St. Johns River Water Management District voted 8-1 to give initial approval to a plan that would allow utilities to pump more water out of the underground aquifer, even if that meant lower water levels at Blue Spring, which serves as a wintertime refuge to the manatees.

However, board members said they would grant final approval only if the plan includes a clear-cut strategy to closely monitor the Orange City spring and to make sure that the current average flow would be restored by 2024. The plan is scheduled for a final vote Aug. 8.

Said district board member William Kerr, "This does not mean that Volusia County can come in and take all the groundwater."

District scientists said that the 18-year plan would accommodate west Volusia's growing demand for water until a new treatment plant is built that would convert St. Johns River water to drinking water. Once that plant is built, local utilities would have to decrease the amount of water they pump out of wells, to give the spring a chance to recover.

But many critics, including state and wildlife agencies and environmentalists, are skeptical that this will happen.

Manatees leave the chilly waters of the St. Johns River every winter and swim to Blue Spring, which has a year-round temperature of about 72 degrees, to stay warm. With an average flow rate of 1,174 gallons per second, or 157 cubic feet, Blue Spring is one of the largest springs in Florida.

The district's proposal would allow the flow to drop as low as 132 cubic feet a second, before gradually increasing back to current levels by 2024.

Sandra Clinger, with the Save the Manatee Club, warned that a lower flow rate would shrink the size of the pool along the spring run. That, she said, would crowd the sea cows together, potentially harming them and putting the district in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.

"You have a subpopulation of manatees literally in your hands, and the only subpopulation that we can say definitively is doing well," Clinger said. The St. Johns River population is one of the healthiest of the sea-cow herds in Florida.

But water utilities run by Volusia County, Deltona, DeLand and Orange City said new development has created an increasing demand for water. The only short-term source, they say, is the same underground aquifer that feeds the spring. Volusia County officials alone are seeking a permit to withdraw 5.1 million gallons a day, up from the current 4 million gallons per day.

For the past 10 years, district scientists have studied the spring flow and manatee behavior to try to establish the minimum amount of water needed to support the manatees. They concluded that at 132 cubic feet per second -- a 16 percent decrease from the current average volume -- there would be enough water to provide ample room for the manatees.

They said their plan would allow for a growing manatee population by requiring a gradual increase in the spring flow until it returned to 157 cubic feet per second by 2024.

Hal Wilkening, the district's director of resource management, said the plan doesn't necessarily mean the Volusia utilities could -- or would -- pump all the water to the 132-cubic-feet limit. The scientists' report said the increased withdrawals requested to date would cause the spring flow to drop to 144 cubic feet per second.

Still, federal wildlife officials and environmentalists objected to the plan.

David Hankla, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recently wrote a letter expressing skepticism that the spring flow would rebound on the district's timetable. He warned of potential conflict, as has happened in the Pacific Northwest, between communities accustomed to taking certain amounts of water and the endangered animals that were put at risk.

Environmentalists and wildlife officials recommended setting the current flow of 157 cubic feet per second as a minimum standard.

However, Gloria Marwick, director of Volusia County Water Resources & Utilities, pressed board officials to approve the lower limit for the spring.

"If you establish 157, forget development," Marwick said. "We would have to close our plant now."

The approved plan gives the Volusia utility "some relief" in quenching the area's thirst until a river-treatment plant is built, Marwick said afterward.

Officials in Deltona, DeLand and Orange City said they were pleased with the board's approval, though they were uncertain of its immediate impact.

Rebecca Mahoney and Charlene Hager-Van Dyke contributed to this report. Ludmilla Lelis can be reached at llelis@orlandosentinel.com or 386-253-0964.

[Tegg]

so pump for 18 years and then "give it a chace to recharge?"

Welp, get your repelling gear ready, looks like we'll have a nice dry cave to explore...

At least we'll have 18yrs of lower flow... maybe I can get past cork rock now... ??? hmmmm....

[curtschu]

Thats thinking positive, I don't understand why it is going to take 18 years to build a water plant that can use St. Johns river water.

[Tegg]

Thats thinking positive, I don't understand why it is going to take 18 years to build a water plant that can use St. Johns river water.

This IS volusia county....

[Bill Rotella]

Another example of how lets take care of "us (local government........hmmmm impact fees and more money) and hell with the water, after all, it's not our generation. It irritates me to no end that we are destroying our environment and earth. Even big business is preparing for short cuts in the "Antartic" when there is no more ice in less than 10 years. Mankind is desroying it's future.

[MilFalcon]

Manatee spike delays Blue Spring vote
A surge in the number of sea cows forces water managers to re-examine plans to tap the spring.

Ludmilla Lelis | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted August 9, 2006

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...home-headlines

PALATKA -- Regional water managers delayed a plan Tuesday that could allow fast-growing west Volusia to tap into the water feeding Blue Spring because that critical manatee haven had more manatees last winter than had been expected.

The St. Johns River Water Management District agreed to postpone final approval of the proposal for two months, while scientists figure out how the jump in the manatee population changes their calculations, said district resource-management director Hal Wilkening.

"This number throws this out of whack significantly," said board member Susan Hughes. "That's why we need to recalibrate."

The Blue Spring proposal sets up an 18-year tradeoff on the water supply between man and manatee. Until 2024, district officials would allow the spring flow rate to drop, thereby giving Volusia utilities a chance to pump more groundwater, even though it would take away spring water from the manatees. Utility officials have been asking for permission to pump more water to accommodate the demand from growth.

Before the deadline year, the utilities will be required to build a water-treatment plant on the St. Johns River so that they can cut back their pumping and let the spring flow recover.

Environmentalists and manatee experts object to the plan because they worry it could harm nearly 200 sea cows that depend on the spring for their survival in the winter. They also question whether the district can guarantee that the spring will recover in 2024.

However, Wilkening said that the spring flow is affected by many other factors, including rainfall. Also, if groundwater pumping reduces the spring flow, that flow should recover when the pumping is cut back.

"That's just a matter of physics," said Wilkening. In the meantime, district scientists will closely monitor the spring and the manatee population throughout the 18-year plan.

The district will revisit the proposal at its Oct. 10 meeting.

District officials are required by law to set the spring's minimum annual flow, and this regulation gives the Volusia utilities a clear deadline requiring them to build a water plant, rather than depending on the underground water supply for all the area's future water needs, Wilkening said.

At Tuesday's meeting, Sandra Clinger of the Save the Manatee Club spoke against the proposal. She has asked whether the proposal takes too much water from the manatees.

Meanwhile, Philippe Cousteau, grandson of the late marine explorer and documentarian Jacques Cousteau, was at Blue Spring State Park on Tuesday, interviewing aquatic biologist Patrick Rose and other manatee experts about the threat of development to the spring.

It was his grandfather's interest in saving the Florida manatee refuges that led to state officials buying the spring as a state park.

"This spring and these manatees represent a resource that should benefit all of the people of Florida, not just a few special interests," said Philippe Cousteau, who is producing a documentary that will air on National Public Radio in October.

As one of Florida's largest springs, Blue Spring flows at an average annual rate of 1,174 gallons per second, or 157 cubic feet. The district plan allows the average spring level to drop as low as 132 cubic feet a second, before gradually increasing it back to current levels by 2024.

District scientists designed the proposal based on their expectations on how the manatee population would grow in the future.

However, the highest daily manatee count from the winter of 2005-2006 represents a big jump from the prior winter, and if the manatee population is growing at a higher rate than anticipated, the spring plan might not account for enough spring water for the manatees in the future.

Last winter, the park counted 180 manatees on a single day, while the highest daily count from the prior winter was 130.

Any change in the calculations could prompt the district to rewrite the plan or affect how much water the utilities can pump.

"It has a bearing on how much water and how fast they would need to develop their alternative water projects," Wilkening said.

Michael McLeod of the Sentinel staff contributed to this story. Ludmilla Lelis can be reached at llelis@orlandosentinel.com or 386-253-0964.

At least we'll have 18yrs of lower flow... maybe I can get past cork rock now... ??? hmmmm....

I thought someone said they have already been past cork rock? The only person who has, that was confirmed, was removed after he died.

[Tegg]

The only person who has, that was confirmed, was removed after he died.

Maybe with the reduced flow and when the hurricanes kick up and make the SJ River come up it will reduce the flow enough to "safely" explore the system.

Needless to say, I will be there the day they turn the pumps on to see the difference it makes.

[CaptainSpeleo]

I've never heard of the outflow being slow enough for anyone to pass through the "cork rock" opening and live to tell about it. If that day ever comes, it's going to be interesting to see who the first guinea pig is and what lies beyond there.

[Line Squirrel]

it's going to be interesting to see who the first guinea pig is and what lies beyond there.

Just more wet rocks...and a wet guinea pig SORRY, I just had to