Reduced flow?

[Me]

Can anyone provide me with links to reduced flow in our springs as it relates to agriculture and water bottling? I did check the Conservation forum, but didn't see anything providing data.

TIA!

Lori

[Puttzer]

Check with "Save Our Suwannee."

I'd bet they'll be able to help you.

http://saveoursuwannee.org/

[Kelly Jessop]

Can anyone provide me with links to reduced flow in our springs as it relates to agriculture and water bottling? I did check the Conservation forum, but didn't see anything providing data.

TIA!

Lori

Check the Florida Springs Institute and perhaps Karst Environmental. In the grand scheme of things agriculture and development have the biggest impact,we like to vilify water bottling plants,but not the huge impact we would think.

[jason]

Here is a good place to start. Kelly is correct - agriculture is a major user. The agricultural lobby likes to argue that because the water stays in the basin, they don't really use any water... The reality is, the vast majority of groundwater that is used for water crops evaporates off.

http://fl.water.usgs.gov/infodata/wateruse.html

[Walter Pickel]

Check the Florida Springs Institute and perhaps Karst Environmental. In the grand scheme of things agriculture and development have the biggest impact,we like to vilify water bottling plants,but not the huge impact we would think.

Kelly, of the differences between ag and bottling is the fact that the water ag uses ends up back in our aquifer. A lot (I know subjective) water that is bottled from our aquifer goes to other states and does not return to our aquifer.

A few years ago almost all of the wells around Ginnie (including CCD's) went dry. That "probably" was not a result of ag or development. Zephyrhills water is (was) coming from public water supply as they were pumping too much brine (ran out of upper level aquifer water).

I'm not sure I would go to KES as they were trying (5 years ago?) to create MFLs in the Sante Fe so that bottling could start at July Springs. The new MFLs are ridiculous everywhere in Florida. Some of the newer MFLs have the run at Manatee dry before the MFL is reached.

My thoughts are my own and do not represent a scientific approach.

[jason]

Kelly, of the differences between ag and bottling is the fact that the water ag uses ends up back in our aquifer. A lot (I know subjective) water that is bottled from our aquifer goes to other states and does not return to our aquifer.

Again, while this is a common argument, there are two realities.... The first is that most of water used for crop watering will evaporate off to the atmosphere and does not end up in the aquifer. The second is that what small fraction of the water that does wind up back in the aquifer has picked up a lot of nitrates on the way back to the water table.

One interesting thing to note from the link I attached above is that domestic water use is approaching agricultural withdraws....

[Walter Pickel]

Jason..I do believe those points. Trust me. I also believe that water leaving the state by the millions of gallons, never to return, is no small "drop in the bucket" either. That is something that is far more controllable then focusing on ag...Ag is the stated diversion for development and bottling (IMO).

Regarding ag, I know a lot of farmers have been working with manufactures to reduce that amount of water that evaporates.

The fact that Nestle is/was the single largest lobbiest in Tallahassee should speak for itself. They get a lot of water for "free"...

[jason]

Jason..I do believe those points. Trust me. I also believe that water leaving the state by the millions of gallons, never to return, is no small "drop in the bucket" either. That is something that is far more controllable then focusing on ag...Ag is the stated diversion for development and bottling (IMO).

I know that the amount of water that bottled water companies withdraws sounds like a lot to the average person, but in the grand scheme of things, industrial/commercial useage is far lower than agricultural and domestic supply use.

http://fl.water.usgs.gov/infodata/wa...s/figure39.gif

This figure is for the entire state, so the relative amounts will vary from county to county. I have mixed feelings about bottled water companies. On the one hand, they profit handsomely from very cheap exploitation of a public resource (but, the same could be said about mining companies and oil companies...). On the other hand, bottled water companies have deep pockets and have a strong interest in maintaining water quality and the legal teams to defend that water quality....

Complaining about water companies hogging all the fresh water isn't exactly on the same scale as saying that the government should contributions to NPR to balance the budget..... but it is close.