The St. Johns River Water Management District will soon consider a permit from Jacksonville-based utility company JEA that would allow the company to withdraw groundwater, which environmentalists are saying could negatively impact the area’s ecology. #

Though the district has found that JEA’s actions could lead to wetland declines and water decreases in many areas, it has issued a recommendation to approve the permit. In a letter written yesterday to Water Management District officials, the St. Johns Riverkeeper’s Neil Armingeon pleaded with board members to deny the permit that he called “troubling” and “illogical.” #

JEA’s application for a consumptive-use permit has so far flown under the radar, likely because it seems to be business as usual. Formerly known as the Jacksonville Electric Authority, JEA has a reputation for being the largest point-source polluter of the St. Johns River, a waterbody inundated with large-scale toxic algal blooms and belly-up fish. #

According to the Florida Water Management Districts, a consumptive use permit (or CUP) allows water to be withdrawn “from surface and groundwater supplies for reasonable and beneficial uses such as public supply (drinking water), agricultural and landscape irrigation, and industry and power generation.” #

The St. Johns River Water Management District has determined that this sort of groundwater pumping can be dangerous and, in fact, that JEA practices have damaged waterbodies in the past, yet the district may be on its way to granting the permit anyway. Its status is currently “pending.” #

“JEA’s groundwater pumping has damaged lakes to the west of Duval County, and in our opinion, threatens watersheds to the west, including the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers,” wrote the Riverkeeper’s Armingeon in a May 3 letter. “Yet, the SJRWMD is granting JEA an increase in their CUP.” #

Even in the Water Management District’s Technical Staff Report on the JEA permit, major potential changes to the ecology of the affected area were noted: #

The results of the groundwater flow modeling indicate that JEA’s proposed withdrawals would be expected to cause the potentiometric surface of the Upper Floridan Aquifer to decline 4 to 6 feet from 1995 levels in much of Duval County and parts of southern Nassau and northern St. Johns Counties. In addition, as a result of JEA’s proposed withdrawals, decreases of 0.5 foot or more in the Upper Floridan Aquifer would be expected to occur southward into St. Johns, Putnam, and Alachua Counties, westward into Clay, Bradford, Union, Baker, and Columbia Counties, and northward into southeastern Georgia. The large area influenced by JEA’s water withdrawals contains many wetlands and lakes as well as streams, rivers, and springs. [Emphasis added.] #

The technical staff report goes on to reveal that modeling also predicts problems in wetlands, where decreases in aquifer levels could reach six inches due to the withdrawals: #

There are wetlands, ponds, and lakes in areas where surficial aquifer levels are predicted to decline. The wetlands consist mostly of swamps dominated by cypress and hardwood trees. Staff has observed wetlands and lakes already stressed in southwestern Clay and western Putnam Counties, an area where the model indicates that JEA’s proposed withdrawals would contribute to drawdown in the surficial aquifer. #

Nevertheless, the report goes on to recommend approval of the permit: #

Staff has concluded that the applicant’s use, as limited by the attached permit conditions, is reasonable-beneficial, will not cause or contribute to interference with existing legal uses, and is consistent with the public interest. Therefore, staff recommends approval for this application. #

Armingeon says that the permit could lead to irreparable harm and that the St. Johns River Water Management District is knowingly ignoring the facts. #

“The Suwannee River Water Management District(SRWMD), and the U.S. Geological Survey have shown pumping in NE Florida by JEA is damaging the Suwannee, Alapaha, and Santa Fe Rivers and White Springs,” wrote Armingeon in his May 3 letter. “Yet, the CUP ignores these data, and allows JEA to increase groundwater consumptive use.” #

The District does make some requirements of JEA, such as noting that they must develop and implement a Minimum Flow Level prevention/recovery strategy in certainly affected lakes. According to Armingeon, however, this requirement comes with an “out” clause that could seemingly render it ineffective: #

The condition states the applicant, JEA, must participate, “[….[U]nless the existing minimum levels for these lakes in rule chapter 40C-8 are revised so that a prevention or recovery strategy is no longer required under section 373.0421 of the Florida Statutes.” #

If the District lowers the lake’s [Minimum Flow Levels], as it has threatened in the past, JEA can walk away from its commitment. #

If issued, the permit will go into effect for 10 years before any substantial changes can be made. “Rarely, are issues of this importance to the community and to the environment, given this type of longevity, and lack of oversight,” wrote Armingeon. “Thanks to the political climate in Florida, this is where we are now.” #

The governing board of the St Johns River Water Management District will next hold a meeting on Tues., May 10 to consider the JEA’s permit application. #