from staff
The Northeast Florida Regional Council has decided the best way to tackle the impending water supply issues facing the area is to get as many of the key players as possible into the same room and talk.
Brian Teeple, CEO of the Council, is hosting the “Northeast Florida Regional Water Supply Summit: The Future of the St. Johns River” Jan. 25, tentatively to be held at the University of North Florida’s University Center.
Recently, local elected officials including Mayor John Peyton and Jacksonville Beach Mayor Fland Sharp have taken official positions opposing a plan offered by the St. Johns Water Management District to permit Central Florida water companies and utilities to withdraw as much as 261 million gallons of water a day from the river and it’s tributaries. The plan is meant to supplement the growing populations that are about the tap out the limits of the traditional water source, the Floridan Aquifer.
Teeple said he applauds their stances, but said the summit is designed to congregate all of the area’s decision-makers together in an effort to form a consensus — one that will be formally presented to the St. Johns River Water Management District some time in the near future.
“The problem is a lack of information,” said Teeple.
St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon, who has followed the issue as closely as anyone in Northeast Florida, agrees that there are big questions surrounding the District’s plan.
“There are questions, like how will the decrease in freshwater flow affect the aquatic life in the river and the concentration of nutrients from wastewater flows?” said Armingeon. “The District will flat out tell you they don’t know those things yet.”
The Riverkeeper hosted a very similar forum in early November, although it drew only one City Council member and no one from the Mayor’s office. Armingeon hopes the issue is more known now and will attract more officials to the Regional Council meeting.
“I am hopeful we will get some elected officials from south of here to come to the meeting,” he said. “I have spoken to elected officials south of here, and they basically felt this is not something they are in favor of as much as it’s being forced on them.”
The Regional Council represents seven counties and 27 municipalities in Northeast Florida. Teeple hopes at least one elected official from every organization can attend the half-day summit.
“We thought it was important to bring together the elected officials,” said Teeple, adding that representatives from the Water Management District have been invited as has Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty. “We want his perspective. He says they (Central Florida) are going to be out of water by 2013.”
Teeple said the summit is just one of many steps he hopes will help avoid a nasty battle over the St. Johns River. He said several years ago, the Tampa “Water Wars” resulted in multiple lawsuits and ended up costing the taxpayers millions of dollars.
Teeple said he is trying to avoid a similar scenario by bringing the leaders of area governments together and formulating a basic mission statement for Northeast Florida.
“We are asking the chief elected officials to take that statement back to their local governments,” said Teeple. “The statement may need to be refined over time. I don’t think this is the last time we will meet.”