PALATKA, Fla. – Protesters opposed to a permit that would allow a Marion County cattle ranch to withdraw 1.12 million gallons of water daily from the aquifer demonstrated outside Tuesday's St. Johns River Water Management District meeting. The activists were not allowed to speak at the meeting because the item was pulled from the agenda.
The permit was denied two years ago, citing "anticipated adverse effects on spring flows," but that decision was reversed last month. The board recommended issuing the permit based on a newer version of the Northern District Model, which indicated the model is proprietary and uses non-peer reviewed code, preventing the public from verifying results and validating its use.
A petition was filed Monday for a formal administrative hearing to contest the issuance of the Sleepy Creek Ranch consumptive use permit, granting an 84 percent increase in its water allocation.
"This is a permit withdrawing too much water from Silver Springs ... (that) was previously denied by the district," said Lisa Rinaman, St. Johns Riverkeeper. "We're here to challenge the about-face and decision-making and to protect Silver Springs from unacceptable harm."
Petitioners said they are looking for an administrative hearing to challenge the appropriateness of the model, as well as the assertion that Sleepy Creek Lands provide reasonable assurances that the proposed withdrawals would not cause harmful impacts to Silver Springs and the Silver River, and that the project is in the interest of the public.
Water Management District's Bureau Chief of Water Use Regulation, Rich Burklew, said the change was based on a change in science.
"A new modeling tool was utilized that utilized data that was not available when the previous review was done. And, when you use new data in a model, you can often get new results and that's what happened here," Burklew said.