As outrage continues to flair over the possible withdrawal of water from a sensitive wetlands area in northeastern Hillsborough County known as Morris Bridge Sink, another group — probably the most important one yet — called the move a bad idea.
The Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission board asked its staff to seek a delay in a permit for which the Southwest Florida Water Management (SWFWMD) is asking. The permit, if issued, would allow the entity to take water from Morris Bridge Sink, an area along a stretch of the Hillsborough River, in order to supplement Tampa's drinking water supply.
While SWFWMD is usually the entity that would handle issuing such permits, since it's the one asking for permission, it's the state's Department of Environmental Protection — which some would consider relatively permit-happy these days — that is handling the request.
On Wednesday, numerous environmental activists came out to urge the EPC board — which actually consists of the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners — to fight the permit to siphon water from Morris Bridge Sink, a 200-foot-deep sinkhole directly connected to the Floridan Aquifer.
“It's very significant ecologically," said environmentalist and County Commission candidate Pat Kemp. "It's mostly the forest and pine flatwoods that are managed by the district to promote biodiversity. The wetlands are essential for filtering rainwater before it flows into the river and for storing floodwaters. It's very significant ecologically and includes a very significant wood stork rookery, a sawgrass marsh and a very important bog and two sinkholes. So we're asking for your protection for this very important area.”
EPC staffers said they had many concerns about diverting water from the area further south as well. After all, if drought conditions are affecting the amount of water the Hillsborough River can yield for the local water supply, it's only logical that Morris Bridge Sink would be in detrimental drought as well.
“The permit is designed to only pump this sink during dry and drought conditions, and that's a problem, because the sink itself and the wetlands surrounding it are also going to be stressed during that time period," said Rick Tschantz, General Counsel for the RPC. "So it's designed to pump a source that is already going to be stressed, because the whole area's going to be stressed, because it won't be pumped unless you're in a drought to start with.”
Plus, he said, there are three other local sources that could be used in its place.
During a SWFWMD meeting Tuesday, those who reside near the sink and whose residential wells are connected to it said they were concerned that drawing water from it would in effect foul their wells because of saltwater intrusion, or the inland creeping of seawater as freshwater levels of the porous underground aquifer get lower.
“When you issue a permit, when anyone issues a permit, you have to have reasonable assurances that this is a reasonable, beneficial use of water," Tschatz said. "And you have to have reassurances that you're not going to affect any existing legal users of water. When you look at the way the permit was created, was this a reasonable beneficial use of water? You think about it. The … department, in this case, would be requiring mitigation for pumping a source that is itself used for mitigation for something else."
As one environmental advocate put it Tuesday, it's a classic “robbing Peter to pay Paul” scenario.
“So is it a reasonable use?" Tschatz said. "You have to ask yourself that.”
He added that if the permit does get approval, the EPC at least needs to add conditions that would allow for stronger monitoring of the area if SWFWMD does have to draw from the sink.
“[We'd] also like to talk to them about other conditions if the permit ever does go forward, which we hope it doesn't,” Tschatz said. “Because, there's a lot of monitoring here and there's a lot of requirements for mitigation, but it never says, 'when you see this impact you will stop pumping,' or, 'you will do this.' Because soil subsidence and tree rot and cypress trees falling over, once that happens, it takes an awful long time to repair that damage, if ever.”
The commission voted unanimously to ask for a delay in the permit process in order to gather more data on the permit's potential impacts.
“I think there's many other solutions that can be sought out,” said Commissioner Kevin Beckner. “There's too much risk, in the unknowns that could impact [the ecosystem], as we've already seen in the past.”
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2015.