According to the
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...
's recent study,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
is one of 14 states predicted to face "high risk" water shortages by the year 2050.
The state's water is primarily drawn from the
Floridan Aquifer as well as from the
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...
, the
Suwannee River
The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset hig ...
, and the
Ocklawaha River
The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 21, 2011 Ocklawaha River flows north from central Florida until it joins the St. Johns River near Palatka. Its name is derive ...
. Florida's regional water conflicts stem primarily from the fact that the majority of the fresh water supply is found in the rural north, while the bulk of the population, and therefore water consumption, resides in the south. Metropolitan municipalities in central and south Florida have neared their aquifer extraction limit of per day, leading to the search for new, extra-regional sources.
North-South water conflict
Background
In 2003, a committee predominantly composed of real estate developers was appointed by Governor
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush a ...
to solve Florida's water disparity. Members were selected from the lobby group Council of 100 and in a 2003 report proposed "a system that enables water distribution from water-rich areas to water-poor areas," or the transfer of water through pipelines from the state's northern regions to its more developed and drier southern cities. The Suwannee river region was declared by committee member Lee Arnold to be "sitting in the Saudi Arabia of water."
Representatives, citizens, and groups, such as the Florida Wildlife Federation, across the state argued that Governor Bush curb development in the south as opposed to further contributing to the water imbalance and restricting municipal water use even more. Half the state's fresh water is consumed by South Florida, which includes
Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
,
Broward County
Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 ...
, and
Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...
as well as the majority of the state's agricultural land, golf courses, and swimming pools. Legally, water in Florida is owned by the state, with five water management districts overseeing its regional use and distribution. State law allows the transfer of water from one region to another, but it stipulates this action as a region's last resort.
Resolution
The council's report offered an incentive for northern regions to transfer water south, suggesting that excess supply may be sold for profit. However, Floridians responded with slogans such as "Our water is not for sale!" Ultimately, more than 30 of the state's counties passed resolutions against the proposal, citing various concerns including overpopulation, uncontrolled development, sink holes, spring depletion, and salinization of groundwater supplies. As a result of the public's negative reaction towards the water-transfer proposal, Governor Bush rejected the Council's report. Instead, millions of dollars have been allocated to water development projects. The
South Florida Water Management District
The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is a regional governmental district that oversees water resources from Orlando to the Florida Keys. The mission of the SFWMD is to manage and protect water resources by balancing and improving w ...
plans to restore parts of the Everglades to ensure a continual water supply for its region.
Tampa Bay conflict
The Tampa Bay water war is a conflict between
Hillsborough County,
Pasco County
Pasco County is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the 2020 census, the population was 561,691. Its county seat is Dade City, and its largest city is Zephyrhills. The county is named after Samuel Pasco ...
,
Pinellas County
Pinellas County (, ) is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg– Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical ...
,
New Port Richey
New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was counted at 16,728 in the 2020 census.
History
B ...
,
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, and
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
that has been going on since the 1970s over water supply. The
Southwest Florida Water Management District
The Southwest Florida Water Management District (or SWFWMD, pronounced as "swiftmud" based on the word acronym), is one of five regional agencies directed by Florida State law (United States), state law to protect and preserve water resources. Es ...
is another key player. Created in 1961, it is a district in charge of over 16 counties; it has the responsibility to meet the water needs of all water users while additionally handling water resources efficiently.
The
West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority was created to handle the water efficiently.
History
By the early 1990s, the Tampa Bay area had failed to effectively collaborate on sharing their water resources. Eleven regional groundwater facilities serve nearly 90% of the water demand for the
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...
Area. By legislative acts, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties were required to work together collectively on a regional water system that would be more effective for using their water in a more environmentally safe and productive way.
The group that was formed is West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority. Conflict arose over pumping rights as seen with Pinellas County continuing to purchase wells in Pasco County, and therefore using water before Pasco County inhabitants used their County's water. This also displayed the issue that water was owned traditionally by the land owners and permission was needed to use ground and surface water from the areas. Landowners were having major problems with the new sharing of sources and caused new litigation problems.
A solution was made in 1991 when Pasco County was awarded the right to use their water first while allowing Pinellas County unlimited access to two well fields. Pinellas County continued to cause conflict by refusing to fund alternative water sources and prevented the development of such innovations. This caused further litigation between West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority and Southwest Florida Water Management District from 1994 to 1998 that resulted in zero progress for development in alternatives. The current Tampa Bay Water company cites in its history that the main reason behind zero development within the WCRWSA was that its members were unequally in control of water facilities, thus causing no unification on who was developing alternatives.
With the combined problems of property impacts cited by homeowners, Pinellas County funded a campaign to advertise that the
water scarcity
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water Water resources, resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water ...
issues were from drought not overpumping of aquifers, which was suspected of them. The solution to these litigation battles was the Florida Legislature demanding restructuring of the institutions at play and West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority became Tampa Bay Water by the Northern Tampa Bay New Water Supply and Ground Water Withdrawal Reduction Agreement in 1997. They would receive funding from the Southwest Florida Water Management District in order to research and develop new water sourcing alternatives.
Tampa Bay Today
The regions today are receiving water from three sources: ground water, desalinated seawater and river water. The three sources from the configuration plan made in 1998 were supposed to meet the Tampa Bay's needs until 2012.
Their water sources include
Alafia River
The Alafia River is long, with a watershed of in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, flowing into Tampa Bay. The watershed contains ten named lakes and ponds, and 29 named rivers, streams and canals. During the rainy season, excess ...
,
Hillsborough River,
Tampa Bypass Canal
The Tampa Bypass Canal and Palm River are a flood bypass operated by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The canal includes several concrete flood control structures and was constructed during the 1960s and 1970s. Its purpose is to re ...
, and Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant. Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant was originally issued for building in 1997, but after many delays in construction as well as performance failures, it was not fully functioning until 2007.
It is currently providing a day.
Future Plans
Tampa Bay Water Tampa Bay Water (TBW) is a regional wholesale drinking water utility that serves customers in the Tampa Bay, Florida region. The agency is a special district of the state created by inter-local agreement among six member governments. A nine-member ...
has put together plans that are being explored from 2009 to 2013. Here is a list of some of the plans for the future:
* Gulf Coast Seawater Desalination Plant - an additional desalination plant is a possibility that has the potential to provide 9 million to per day.
* Northern Tampa Bay Wellfields - This would increase the availability and allowance of using wellfields as a source of water.
* Small Footprint Reverse Osmosis in Pinellas County - Requires monitoring reverse osmosis and desalination techniques used in Tarpon Springs and Oldsmar. If the cities do not continue with their plans, Tampa Bay Water would consider using it for regional plans.
* Surface and Recharge Water Projects – Entails using additional water from Alafia River and Bullfrog Creek, reviewing additional surface water storage and possibly using reclaimed water.
* Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant Expansion - Involves increasing the plant by a day.
* Thonotosassa Wells - Plans to research and evaluate whether this is an additional plausible source for future water needs.
Current conflicts
Although the counties are now successfully united under Tampa Bay Water, within the last year there have still been reported water shortages. The region's water supplies have dipped dangerously low and newer stricter precautions have been forced onto citizens for using water.
Even with the plans for future water sources, it seems that with the growing population in the region and increasingly dry seasons, water scarcity is still a pressing issue.
Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint water war
Background
![Apalachicola watershed](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Apalachicola_watershed.png)
The three rivers involved are part of the
ACF River Basin
The ACF River Basin is the drainage basin, or watershed, of the Apalachicola River, Chattahoochee River, and Flint River, in the Southeastern United States.
This area is alternatively known as simply the Apalachicola Basin and is listed by t ...
which stretches from northern
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
down to Eastern
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
and the
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
panhandle. The
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...
is fed mostly from surface water and has its origins in Georgia near Atlanta. It flows southwesterly crossing over the Alabama border and then merging with the
Flint River
The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the u ...
near the Florida border to form the
Apalachicola River
The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 160 mi (180 km) long in the state of Florida. The river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its fa ...
. The Flint River also has its origins near Atlanta and heads southward but is fed by groundwater and has a lower flow than the Chattahoochee. The water from the Flint river is used mostly for agricultural purposes, while the water from the Chattahoochee is used mostly for municipal purposes. Florida depends on the freshwater of the Apalachicola River to mix with the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico in
Apalachicola Bay Apalachicola may refer to:
* Apalachicola people, a group of Native Americans who lived along the Apalachicola River in present-day Florida
Places
* Apalachicola, Florida
*Apalachicola River
* Apalachicola Bay
* Apalachicola National Forest
* Apa ...
. The $70 million oyster industry in Florida is concentrated in Apalachicola Bay and is very sensitive to salinity levels in the bay.
Conflict
The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint water war originated in the 1980s over a water rights dispute between Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. In 1986, Georgia suffered from a drought that lowered the levels of the Chattahoochee River and
Lake Lanier
Lake Lanier (officially Lake Sidney Lanier) is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee Ri ...
to dangerously low levels, so low that the dam was not able to produce enough electricity for nearby Atlanta. As a result, in 1989, the
proposed a 50% increase in water withdrawal from the river to provide fresh water to Atlanta's growing population. Out of fear that the river would not be able to maintain such use, Alabama filed a suit against the Army Corps of Engineers in 1990 because they had not assessed the environmental effects of this proposal. Both Alabama and Florida were concerned about the proposal's effect on water quantity and quality downstream. Both states believed the flow would slow to a point that would damage their ability to provide hydroelectricity and maintain growth. They also believed freshwater withdrawal would increase the flow from pollution from upstream, which was a serious problem for Florida especially because of the oyster industry.
By the end of the year, Florida had joined the suit, and the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint water war became a tri-state conflict. In order to stay the suit, the federal government proposed the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Comprehensive Water Resources Study to analyze fully the effects of the proposed withdrawal and to assess the needs of the basin as a whole. Although the Army Corps of Engineers originally claimed they had enough information initially, it took an additional eight years to complete the study.
Resolution Attempts
In 1992, the three states decided to remove the dispute from the legal courtroom until the Army Corps of Engineers study was completed. In the meantime, water withdrawal levels were frozen and any changes had to be approved by all three states. When the study was completed in 1997, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida created a bill called the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin Compact, which was introduced to each state legislature and to the United States Congress. The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint compact allowed each state to review the Army Corps of Engineers study and then come to an agreement about water allocation by December 31, 1998. The bill was ratified by all three state legislatures and by the U.S. Congress later that year. Because of the gubernatorial elections in all three states in 1998, they decided to extend the deadline to December 31, 1999, and because of an issue with the Alabamian governor, the deadline was extended yet again to May 1, 2000. At this point, Florida was becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress and with the fact that Georgia would simply not agree to any minimum flow restrictions. The deadline was extended once more to August 1, 2000.
Between 1999 and 2003, the deadline was extended 14 times, at which point, Florida dropped out of the negotiations because Georgia refused to compromise.
In 2003, the Army Corps of Engineers gave Georgia the rights to a quarter of the water in Lake Lanier for drinking water, and Alabama and Florida objected. After a series of lawsuits between 2003 and 2008 and record drought in 2007, Georgia's rights to the water in Lake Lanier were denied, stating that the change required congressional approval.
After several attempts at appeal, it seems Georgia has lost the fight for water rights, but a negotiation has yet to be made. The three states have until 2012 to make a final compromise.
[{{cite news , last = Redmon , first = Jeremy , title = Diverse group forms to resolve water war , work = The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , date = 27 November 2009 , URL = http://www.ajc.com/news/diverse-group-forms-to-215851.html , url-status = dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629140437/http://www.ajc.com/news/diverse-group-forms-to-215851.html# , archive-date=29 June 2011]
References
Environmental issues in Florida
Water law in the United States
Water supply and sanitation in the United States