Daily Archives: October 11, 2023

North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan in SRWMD presentation to NCFRPC –Columbia County Observer 2023-10-09

Thanks to Stew Lilker for recording and analysis of a presentation about water planning in the Suwannee and St. Johns River Basins.

To answer his question: No, there won’t be enough water, unless water withdrawals are limited, which neither of the Suwannee nor St. Johns River Water Management Districts seem inclined to do.

Please sign the petition to get Right to Clean and Healthy Waters on the ballot:
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org

[SRWMD, NFRWSP]
SRWMD, NFRWSP

Stew Lilker, Columbia County Observer, October 9, 2023, North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan: Just a Suggestion – Will There Be Enough Water in the Future?

Updated – October 11, 2023  2:55 am – mixed SRWMD slide deck with Observer audio for a clean presentation by Amy Brown, Ph.D. Downloading the slide deck (pdf) keeps all links at the end of the presentation live.

COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (the east side of the Suwannee River Water Management District and the top half of the St. Johns River Water Management District) is being updated. The Plan focuses on the sustainability of resources. It is just a plan, and water users “are not required to implement” any options identified in the Plan.

Well, slide 24 seems to indicate some requirements. Maybe local governments don’t have to implement exactly what NFRWSP says, but I’d bet they will be strongly recommended to do so. Continue reading →

Entrance cleared to Langdale Park Boat Ramp 2023-10-10

Langdale Park is back open to drive in, since Monday. Join us at Langdale Park Boat Ramp on Saturday, Friday, October 20, 2023, for a boating cleanup. Don’t worry: if you don’t have a boat or don’t want to use one, you can clean up on land.

You may recall that back on September 28th I thought I’d collect a water quality sample at Langdale Park, and I found downed trees all along the entrance road.

A week later, I checked again, and all that Hurricane Idalia debris was still there.

So I called Lowndes County Public Works. They agreed they did maintain Hyta Mederer Road, and they would open a work order. They asked if it was urgent, or would Monday do? I said Monday would be fine.

[Thanks to Lowndes County Public Works for reopening Langdale Park]
Thanks to Lowndes County Public Works for reopening Langdale Park

And on Monday they got all the impediments off the road. Gretchen Quarterman tood these pictures Tuesday. She got there in her low-slung Prius C.

On the way back out, she took a video.
https://youtu.be/mbIY1uMhzos

Continue reading →