Water permit raises brows

So we, the residents, were forced to pay for conversion to city water so the businesses could gain permission to pump the same water to sell? I am working and can afford to pay $100 a month for water that used to be free, but retirees and those on a budget may not. I am now paying $60.26 for water and $46.74 for the connections each month plus additional hundreds each year with my tax bill so Heatherwood Investments LLC of Crystal River and Mistletoe LLC of Ocala can withdraw up to 76,700 gallons per day, since I am not "using" the water anymore? We paid to have water pumped in so they can sell it back to us, and then sell the permits to someone else since we "aren't using it?" What part of that makes ANY sense at all? It only makes sense to those who would profit...

Water for Nothing, but the Drink's Not Free....
SwiftMud's logic for the withdrawal is that it "will not negatively impact neighbors" because they are on City Water. Where do they think that water comes from - Elfin Magic? Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Drawdown Time You Know:{

What part of shipping water by truck from the Southwest WMD to St. Johns WMD did SWFWMD not perceive as contrary to "local sources first"? Note that SJWMD is the agency expected to rubber-stamp the Adena Springs +13 MGD pumping permit which has received considerable negative press coverage lately. How is SWFWMD's rubber-stamp of this permit any less egregious? Get out and vote tomorrow! Make a difference!

Has anyone looked at the rivers lately? We have asked Gov. Scott to come here to see what he is destroying before it is all gone. We have invited him 12 times. He sent DEP Director of Waterways. He was SHOCKED at the condition of the Homosassa River. It is DEAD. No vegetation - No fish. How much worse can it get? Agree with other comments that the water is not even fit to filter and drink.

Why is it that what people consider "Progress" always damages nature?

The small springs in front of my house have already dried up. The springs in Hunter Spring Run can no longer flush out the excessive fertilizer, leaking sewage and resulting Lyngbya. At this rate, 3 Sisters Spring, one of the world's jewels, prime manatee habitat and one of our city's main sources of revenue will soon be gone.

How is it that one small company can remove a resource that belongs to all of us and sell it? They take the water & keep the money while we suffer, yet again, by a lower water table, poorer water quality, sinkholes, less tourism, a huge negative impact to the manatees, fish, birds and much more.

SFWMD says we will only lose 1/10th of a foot? What?! That's more than an inch. How many inches are left before damage occurs? Answer: NONE! We are way, way past that point.

Why can't "Progress" be redefined as returning nature to its original healthy condition? Apparently our government believes progress equals growth, and growth is everything.

There are plenty of places in Florida where this same insanity has already occurred. There were large springs that have totally dried up, and there are springs that are drying up as we sit here. The government agencies know this, but do nothing in the name of "Progress". Look at what is happening to Silver Springs. It is currently dying, thanks to human greed, ignorance and generous permitting by the SFWMD.

My advice to you: plan a visit to Three Sisters very soon. Take lots of photographs. They will soon be all you have to show your children & grandchildren of Crystal River's lost paradise.

don't blame this on swfwmd, this is the philosophy of our present govenor and legislature. swfwmd does as they told or are looking for work. the same with dep. if you do not believe public resources should be up for sale to the highest bidder, then you have the option to vote for those not bent on destruction of our water resources. seems a lot of people in citrus county do not care and wouldn't until it's to late.

This story tells of SWFWMD allowing massive withdrawals of water for sale to bottled water companies right down the street from the City's sewerage treatment plant that for many years had spills, dumped the old sewer plant in nearby wetlands when constructing a new facility and had to send their sewage effluent many miles out Citrus Ave. to a spray field on the other sided of the railroad tracks. And guess what --- that sprayfield is across the street from a spring that courses through a cow pasture and flows past the pumping site newly permitted by SWFWMD, before going past the sewer plant and into the Crystal River.
Sounds like SWFWMD should not have been the one to give the permit, but rather the Health Department should have looked at permitting.
And just across US 19, some 5 blocks west of the new withdrawal site there's the city's tall water tank that hadn't drawn water for many years for citizens to drink because of salt water intrusion.
The best way to deal with this is not to buy bottled water and definitely Don't Drink It.

Of all the reasons to pump water out of the ground - bottling for retail sale may be the worst. Not only is it ethically questionable in the sense that it is drawing from a public resource for profit, the process to extract, bottle and dispose/recycle the container requires about three times the amount of water as comes in the bottle. Instead of allowing the water bottling companies to pump it out of our aquifers we should require them to use an alternative source. Over the past thirty years the quality of local water has degraded and the volumes of flow of the area springs has been reduced as much as 40% in some instances. I will be writing our state and local representatives as I hope others will.

who pays for the sink holes caused by the added draw-down? Most of us realize the connection... a few inches drop in the ground water equals $100,000 in mending sink holes. We already have had several along Citrus Ave. So which idiots are accountable for the stupidity?

We would like people to make money, but if they cause problems, someone must pay. It should not be the home owner who is damaged, it should be the Water Board, the City, and the new business....

But that won't happen around here. I am a property owner just outside the city limits and am being punished by the city-county sewer project. The city and county are planning to cost us each over $10,000 for their project...of no benefit to the property owners. who benefits? the crooks in county and city management and the secret property developers and owners like damato...??

How can the folks at SWFWMD be SO stupid?!! They act like we have an unlimited supply of water. What happens when we no longer have enough water in the aquifer to keep our springs flowing or for the people that live here? When that happens they'll probably want to start charging US for the water! And yet, they give these permits away and let the companies take our water for free. They should be charged for every gallon they pump out of our aquifer!