DEP Learns About the Santa Fe River

It was a fortuitous coincidence that Shawn Hamilton, Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, wound up at Rum 138 in his search to purchase a new kayak.  He had no idea that he was also visiting the headquarters of Our Santa Fe River, but he soon found out.

In Merrillee’s words — His clothing gave his job away.  I wasted no time telling him who I was, as he was an employee of the State of Florida, not just any employee, but the head of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. I was quick to ask him about paddling on the Santa Fe River with me and there we could talk about this rivers-springs and its basin. He liked the idea of learning about the river.

Hamilton was smart enough to recognize what he was offered, so a few days later his office called Merrillee and a trip was arranged to paddle from Rum Island to the Hwy 47 bridge.  Executive Director of Suwannee River Water Management District Hugh Thomas was included in the invitation and the trip took place on June 17.

Readers of my posts know well that OSFR does not often see eye-to-eye with the DEP and SRWMD.   Since the fate of our water purity/content depends on the DEP, and the fate of the quantity of water in the Santa Fe depends on SRWMD, they hold the future of our river in their hands.

No one is a better ambassador for our river than Merrillee and this was an opportunity which she instigated and capitalized on from the beginning.  Topics she initiated included some of the on-going issues in the SFR basin:  recreational usage, lack of submerged aquatic vegetation, development impacts influencing the water, compliance reports about Ginnie Springs Outdoors’ riparian frontage, and conservational land purchases.  One thing Merrillee made sure of was that Hamilton knew about the withdrawal [at Ginnie Springs bottling plant] of 984,000 gallons a day directly from the Devil’s Eye Compex and all the springs in that system.

This permit was given by the SRWMD in spite of the fact that the springs and river are impaired and not meeting state requirements for restoration and sustainability.  Adding insult was the fact that the permit was given to a private company absolutely NOT in the public interest, and in spite of nearly twenty thousand letters to the district opposing the permit.

Merrillee received a thank-you note and re-usable water bottle from Thomas in appreciation of the trip.

Communication is paramount when dealing with issues and people.  OSFR thanks Merrillee for generating this event and for taking a day off from work to carry it through.