Water threat exaggerated

Dr. Dixon greatly simplifies the hydrological cycle and water budget assumptions in his rant against Mr. Kuhl’s extremely valid & courageous concerns. First, the balance between human use of resources and that available for Florida’s vulnerable ecosystems is already weighted strongly in favor of humans. Regardless, when assessing and valuing ecosystem services provided by Florida’s aquifers and surface water bodies, an ecological and economically integrated assessment to determine best value should be the initial step in allotting water. I doubt that there has been a serious assessment to determine how the extraction of an additional 13 million gallons of water per day will affect in-stream water flows for fish and recreational users, private wells of adjacent residents, water quality and environmental impacts. These valuations should take into affect that these ecosystem services are expressed over time most likely in a non-linear fashion, which means the impacts will be expressed more severely as the water crisis and climate change intensifies. Also, the assumption that 13 million gallons extracted will equal 13 million gallons returned to the aquifer is flawed. Just converting from an ungrazed or lightly grazed system to higher intensity grazing, and possibly land conversion to a more uniform ecosystem (forage pasture) alone can be expected to result in more runoff and less infiltration when we do get those rain showers every 10 days, a fact that Dr. Dixon apparently is counting on. As development continues we can expect more runoff and less replenishment of the groundwater. Furthermore, studies have shown that regulators do have control over rainfall amounts, or they would if allowed to do their jobs. We know that climate change will alter precipitation patterns, with more prolonged droughts and more severe storms (resulting in greater runoff), and we also know that deforestation at the local level can reduce precipitation and also cause greater heating as urbanization proceeds. Therefore, at the federal level, we need more control over CO2 emissions, deforestation and clearing, and agricultural practices in order to try and prevent atmospheric CO2 levels exceeding 900 ppm by the end of the century. But even at the local level, regulators can ensure that local projects that result in too many impacts (let’s see – water extraction, potential clearing & deforestation, oh yeah, and 30,000 cows belching out methane and depositing nitrogen pollutants) are reduced, minimized or, as a last resort, mitigated appropriately. Finally, Dr. Dixon is correct about nitrogen pollution. But it is indeed puzzling why he accepts that thresholds that result in an extreme regime shift – from oligotrophic to eutrophic lake, for instance – appear not to worth consideration when it comes to aquifer depletions such that water replenishment cannot keep up with water extraction. Indeed, the quantity of water in the aquifer and the existence of healthy trophic levels within aquifers and their surface expressions can affect water quality.
The fact is that Florida's ecosystems are NOT healthy anyomre, so there is no balance to be achieved. Florida is dying, and needs emergency care - not more exploitation by folks interested in only increasing their already bulging wallets. Balance is a term that simply means that the fulcrum will forever be shifted more and more towards human economic growth, with the environment increasingly allotted less consideration as the baseline is always changing.

As a health care professional, Dr. Dixon's concern about increasing nitrate levels in Florida's springs is well-founded. High nitrate levels are a primary contributor to toxic algae outbreaks (AKA “green slime”) in Florida's waterways. Nitrate pollution primarily originates from fertilizer, inadequately treated human waste, and manure. Adding 30,000 head of cattle and tons of cattle manure daily to the Silver Springs springshed will inevitably increase nitrate levels in the Silver Springs.

Speaking of cattle manure, that pretty much describes Dr. Dixon's opinions on human impact to Florida's hydrology. Keep your day job, Doc, and leave hydrology to the experts who have spent their lives studying these complex systems.

This 13 Million will rapidly become much more, in addition to the drain the swamp mentality, that allows for the water level in our lakes to be lowered in fear of a hurricane.

Once the door is opened getting it shut again is nearly impossible.

But as a practical matter, I would rather see the 13 Million go to livestock vs. Golf Courses !

Apparently, you're well hasn't gone dry. And you've never swam in one of the pristine springs that said cattle operation has already destroyed in Levy County.