St. Johns River

Apparently Clay County residents, and others in Northeast Florida, aren't the only people who see the potential danger in sucking a few hundred million gallons of water out of the St. Johns River. American Rivers thinks so, too.

That organization has named our river as one of the 10 Most Endangered Rivers in the United States.

Central Florida needs water to accommodate growth. A long-term solution is needed, and one that does not risk the St. Johns as the most convenient stop-gap measure.

The St. Johns River Water Management District has the authority to put a halt to the ill-conceived plan to syphon the river at its sources. The Florida Legislature can use its powers to stop this roll of the dice on our river's health and ecosystem. Neither, though, appear inclined to look into the future and say anything other than "Maybe 250 million gallons a day won't damage the river."

At a BCC workshop today (Nov. 20, 2007) Mr. Kirby Green with the St. Johns River Water Management District made a presentation about the state of the water supply in Florida.  My eyes were opened - wide, and my head was spinning.  Pretty scary stuff.

Like many growth related infrastructure issues, the numbers and the details can be mind numbing, but you don't have to be an engineer or a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon or anything else to imagine turing on a faucet and nothing coming out.  In the service area of the SJRWMD, the average per-person use of publicly supplied water is 150 gallons per day, or about 6.25 gallons per hour.  WOW!