Update 2019-08-27: Nestlé’s permit is incomplete, says SRWMD, but go ahead and comment anyway so the objections keep piling up.

Nestlé’s permit request to with draw even more massive amounts of water from Ginnie Springs on the Santa Fe River does not explicitly appear in next Tuesday’s SRWMD board packet.

Nonetheless, you can go ahead and ask SRWMD not to approve that permit: OSFR explains how.

Nestlé has long sucked up water next to Madison Blue Spring on the Suwannee Withlacoochee River, paying nothing per gallon, and now Nestlé has bought the bottler at Ginnie Springs on the Santa Fe River, Seven Springs Water Co., which is applying for a new permit to pay nothing to withdraw even more water for nothing; see Cindy Swirko, Gainesville Sun, 1 August 2019, Permit sought for bottled water from Ginnie Springs. Gilchrist County already approved the permit, but the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) has not yet.

Location Map
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This is in Tuesday’s SRWMD packet:

Water Supply

• Amy Brown and Warren Zwanka met with representatives from Nestlé Waters North America to discuss the Western Water Resource Caution Area.
• Amy Brown and Emily Ryan met with SJRWMD Water Supply Planning staff to discuss water use estimates and projections.

Some other Water Resource Caution Areas are depicted on a property location map.

That Western Water Resource Caution Area came up last month, according to the minutes:

Agenda Item No. 19 — Request for Authorization to Publish Notice of Rule Development and Notice of Proposed Rule to Amend Rule 40B-2.301, F.A.C., to Incorporate the Western Water Resource Caution Area.

Warren Zwanka, Resource Management Division Director, presented this item to the Board.

Lucinda Merritt, Ichetucknee Alliance, provided comments to the Board.

MOTION WAS MADE BY QUINCEY, SECONDED BY JONES TO APPROVE THE RECOMMENDATION. MR. SCHWAB VOTED AGAINST. MOTION CARRIED.

Board Member Quincey suggested a motion be made to draft a letter from the Governing Board to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to initiate rulemaking to change the terminology of “Water Resource Caution Area” to “Water Resource Planning Area”

MRS. SANCHEZ MADE A MOTION TO DRAFT A LETTER FROM THE GOVERNING BOARD REQUESTING THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION INITATE RULEMAKING TO CHANGE THE TERMINLOGY OF “WATER RESOURCE CAUTION AREA” TO “WATER RESOURCE PLANNING AREA”. SECONDED BY SCHWAB. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

That rule change is in the 2019-2020 Annual Regulatory Plan as modifying 40B 2.301 F.A.C., “Conditions for Issuance of Permits”:

Page 84
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Streamgaging funding from Nestlé

Nestlé is also in the the main board consent agenda and under Water Resources Program:

Legal, Land Acquisition, and Finance
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• Agenda Item No. 32 – Authorization to Modify and Extend Contract Number 05/06-102 with Nestlé Waters North America

WLR Page 25 32. Authorization to Modify and Extend Contract Number 05/06-102 with Nestlé Waters North America – Recommend Consent

Those two items refer to the same contract:

Staff recommends the Governing Board authorize the Executive Director to modify and extend the current revenue contract with Nestlé Waters North America beginning October 1, 2019 through the end of the existing permit on May 6, 2028, with annual payment to the District of $70,000 for monitoring of the Withlacoochee River and Madison Blue Spring.

…

All revenues will be passed through to a separate inter-agency agreement with the USGS to conduct the monitoring.

And here is where that Nestlé streamgaging funding goes:

Staff recommends the Governing Board authorize the Executive Director to enter into an Interagency Joint Funding Agreement with the United States Geological Survey for an amount not to exceed $828,310 for streamgaging services.

Page 153
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Recently I learned from Lowndes County, GA, Emergency Management Director Ashley Tye that the City of Valdosta funds two gages on the Withlacoochee River upstream from Valdosta: at US 41 (North Valdosta Road) and Skipper Bridge. The relevance here is he said Valdosta was getting some funding from SRWMD to do that. Neither of those gages are in the Table 1 accompanying this item. But this is in the text before the table:

As part of the District’s funding provision, Nestlé Waters North America and Packaging Corporation of America will provide $70,000 and $16,480, respectively, toward Withlacoochee River monitoring in this JFA. The USGS’ National Streamflow Information Program (NSIP) also will cover an additional $180,300 of the surfacewater gaging costs while the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is continuing to fund $79,500 of USGS monitoring on the New and Ichetucknee rivers and Troy Spring.

Hm, maybe it’s PCA that’s feeding the funding to SRWMD for those two Georgia Withlacoochee River gages. But there’s nothing else about PCA in this SRWMD board packet.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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