Florida's Water Problem

Being in Jacksonville, our view of the 'water problem' tends to focus on the St. Johns River mostly because it runs right through our city. As I was recently reminded by Neil Armingeon, the St. Johns Riverkeeper, the water problem is a state-wide concern and should be treated as such.

The point was driven home this weekend on my camping trip to O'Leno State Park, where the Santa Fe river sinks below the ground and later reappears at the aptly-named River Rise Scenic Preserve three miles away. As we walked along the river, we could clearly see it was significantly lower than it should be. We guessed, based on the vegetation near the riverbank and past trips, that it was a least 6 feet lower than last year.

As you can imagine, much of our conversation along the walk surrounded plans to withdraw over 150 million gallons of water per day from the St. Johns and guessed that someone, somewhere, was suggesting the same plans for the Santa Fe, despite it's visibly low water levels.

Guess what? Two minutes worth of research on the 'net and we found that, indeed, someone is trying to withdraw water from the Santa Fe.

"Our Santa Fe River, Inc." is a grassroots organization dedicated to educating their community on potential water withdrawls. From their website:

Our Santa Fe River, Inc. has been sharing information with you for nearly a year regarding 4 more water bottling facilities coming to the Santa Fe River within a 3-mile stretch of riverfront. They would withdraw a combined total (with the one already operating, CCDA or Coca-Cola/Danone), of 1.3 billion gallons annually. We have been sending you this information so when the time came, you would be ready to come to government meetings and voice your concerns or simply come as a warm body in protest of this outrageous business… the business of bottling your public natural resource, WATER, for huge corporate profits.

WE NEED YOUR HELP now to show your support for the health of the river, springs and aquifer. Voice your opinion on the future of water use. Let your public officials know how you feel about businesses depleting more water than any one of our towns use in one day. We urge you to mark your calendar, save the date, and be there to make your statement a part of our history.

Our Santa Fe River, Inc.
1-386-454-2366,
oursantafe@hotmail.com

It only takes one visit to the Santa Fe, or the St. Johns, or the Ichetucknee, or the Withlacoochee, or the Suwanee to understand that the health of these rivers are at stake. And once you marvel at their beauty, you will want to protect them.

I've posted a few photos I took of the Santa Fe this past weekend. I hope you are inspired to take a weekend to visit one of these amazing natural beauties and teach your friends and family that they must be protected.

And, for those that doubt I'm the 'roughing it' type of camper, I've included a proof-of-camping shot, too. (Note the LEED-EB Reference Guide. Just shows that I never fully leave work behind.) :-)