Fervor Against Water Extractions Extends to Gilchrist County Florida
2008-09-16
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Fervor Against Water Extractions Extends to Gilchrist County Florida
High Springs, Florida-- A group of citizens in Gilchrist County, Florida is mobilizing against a potential contract to extract and bottle more water from the Santa Fe River, demonstrating that momentum against the corporate control of our nation’s water resources is growing. While a “special use” permit has been filed by a campground called Blue Springs, the company that would ultimately profit from the operation has not been revealed. If approved, the new bottling facility would pump a minimum 500,000 gallons of water a day. Coca-Cola already operates a facility 5,000 feet from the proposed site that can pump up to 1.2 million gallons of water a day.
Although the Gilchrist County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the proposed permit on September 30, the area’s water management district has not finished an environmental impact study on the flow of the Santa Fe River. Area activists are concerned that taking additional water from the springs could negatively impact the area’s delicate ecology while potentially undermining the local tourism industry. It is unclear how much water is required to sustain a healthy ecosystem in this sensitive area, which includes an extensive network of underground caverns. If approved, the bottling operation would create the need for over 132 trucks a day, coming in empty and the same amount leaving full, to drive through the area’s back roads, many of which were not designed to support such a burden.
The area’s economy relies on the river and its springs, which are major tourist attractions. While the precise extent of the proposed new extraction’s impact on the area’s tourism industry is unknown, taking significant quantities of water from the springs will deplete their levels and natural beauty, making them less attractive to visitors. Presently, the Santa Fe River is a tributary to the famous Suwannee River and both are listed as impaired rivers by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). The FDEP is in the process of completing Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL's) reports for the rivers that will analyze the level of pollutants in the river from run-off, human and animal encroachment, fertilizers and pesticides associated with agriculture. It is necessary to maintain the historic flow from the springs to support the delicate balance of the water ecosystem.
“If approved, this permit could ignite a domino effect where future extractions are sanctioned with little regard for the consequences they may have on the area’s ecosystem and communities,” remarked Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch. “Once a permit has been obtained, a bottler can request at any time for more water to be extracted. The bottled water industry is notorious for its lack of regulation. Few quotas exist to limit the amount of water a company can extract as they are self regulated in the state of Florida.”
In March the Gilchrist County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend denial of the proposed plant, citing a lack of compatibility with the area, insufficient public infrastructure and safety concerns associated with truck traffic. Minutes from that meeting also reveal that as of March, a number of issues such as light pollution, storm water management, site ingress and egress, site coverage, determination of water recharge areas, buffer zones and wetlands delineation had yet to be determined.
“We are very concerned about more trucks and employee cars coming to and from this water bottling facility. Blue Springs and the Coke plant are miles from the nearest interstate. Truck traffic from the Coke plant uses at least two small town main streets, High Springs and Ft. White, as their shipping route, causing deafening noise, smog and safety issues. We must not allow more water bottlers to put our public natural resources in plastic bottles to be shipped to the ends of the earth. Water in the state of Florida is held in public trust for all Floridians and visitors and we must protect it for future growth," stated Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, board member for Our Santa Fe River, Inc., a local citizen group opposed to the extraction of water for bottle water business.
The current battle in Florida is just one part of a national endeavor to fight corporate efforts to bottle water from local supplies. Earlier in the year, activists in Wells, Maine halted a plan by Nestle to open a well to extract more water for its Poland Springs brand. Similarly, in McCloud, California activists mobilized to cancel a contract with Nestle to pump water from nearby Mount Shasta Springs.
“What’s happening on the Santa Fe River is not an isolated incident. Communities around the country are mobilizing to stop the confiscation of their water by corporate interests. They want control of their water for their own purposes, not to see it commoditized and sold back to them at over 250 times its actual value,” said Hauter.
Facts About Bottled Water:
• Plastic bottle production in the United States annually requires about 17.6 million barrels of oil, enough to fuel more than one million cars.
• About 86 percent of empty plastic water bottles in the United States land in the garbage instead of being recycled. That amounts to about two million tons of PET plastic bottles piling up in U.S. landfills each year.
• Bottled water typically costs more than $1 for eight to 12 ounces, amounting to more than $10 per gallon. Most Americans pay $0.002 per gallon for tap water.
• According to a Natural Resources Defense Council study of 103 bottled water brands, about one-quarter of the brands tested contained bacterial or chemical contamination in some samples at levels that violated “enforceable state standards or warning levels.”
Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer rights organization based in Washington, D.C. that challenges the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources. Visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.