Hello!

If you’ve ever visited one of Florida’s thousand freshwater springs, you can understand why Marjorie Stoneman Douglas referred to them as “liquid bowls of light.” Crystal-clear and refreshing on a hot, Florida summer’s day, our springs are to be treasured for their recreational and environmental services, and, most critically, as the bellwether for the health of our state’s source of drinking water, the Floridan Aquifer.  Unfortunately, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has proposed rules that do not safeguard against over-pumping of our springs that is statutorily required of it. Please email FDEP by April 8th and urge the department to discard the current draft proposed rules and write rules with meaningful springs protections to accomplish the intent of 2016 legislation and protect Florida springs from over-pumping. Our freshwater springs are a barometer that reflect the health of the state’s underground water supply. Throughout the state, our springs are suffering an overall long-term decline in flow volume and an overall increase in pollution. As Florida’s population continues to grow, development-related water demand is increasingly stressing our state’s freshwater springs and aquifer. Our fragile water supply must be better managed to effectively balance the needs of people, the environment and agriculture.  FDEP is accepting public comments on its draft proposed rules until Friday, April 8th. 1000 Friends of Florida stands ready with our fellow member organizations of the Florida Springs Council to assist FDEP to draft stronger rules to protect our precious freshwater springs. Please add your voice and submit comments to FDEP by email at stefani.weeks@FloridaDEP.gov.

Thank you for your advocacy, Haley Busch Outreach Director

Background In 2016, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act. This legislation identified 30 Outstanding Florida Springs and required FDEP to identify springs basin areas where the aquifer is most vulnerable to pollutants, required water management districts to establish minimum flows and levels to protect against excessive water withdrawals, and directed FDEP to adopt new rules for consumptive use permitting to prevent groundwater withdrawals that are harmful to Outstanding Florida Springs. Among other things, the legislation provided “action is urgently needed” to protect Outstanding Florida Springs and required FDEP to define actions that would be “harmful to the water resources.”  In March of this year, nearly six years later, FDEP finally released proposed rules 62-41.400-402. Unfortunately, these proposed rules are nearly identical to existing statutes from 2014, and do not add protections beyond current law regarding water withdrawals and over-pumping.

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