Progressive they may be in most environmental issues, Alachua’s deep injection well putting wastewater into our aquifer should be immediately stopped. The science behind injecting wastewater into our drinking water is akin to dumping garbage into the river because it will be out of sight.
Alachua County is better than that.
Dr. Knight’s suggestion for the property described below would be a healthy win for Alachua County residents and beyond.
This is an opportunity for Alachua’s leaders.
Read the original article with photos here in the Gainesville Sun.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
A wake-up call to local leaders: Lee property should be protected, not developed
May 10, 2022
The ongoing discussion of the development of the Lee property on Parker Road is the spark that has ignited this criticism of the county/city leadership status quo. Preliminary reports indicate that the 4,000-acre, undeveloped property might include two new golf courses and hundreds of new homes and residents.
By proposing this plan, it appears that the owners wish to reap the property value benefits of their grandfather’s 1950s land purchase. In a shamelessly capitalistic society, who can blame them?
But golf courses and intensive urban development pose acute threats to the Floridan Aquifer and our local springs. The water and fertilizer used by a golf course on a highly vulnerable karst landscape will cause aquifer impacts comparable to an intensive dairy operation. Urban development, both commercial and high-density residential, will consume more groundwater (less spring flow) and create more fertilizer and human wastewater (more springs nitrogen pollution and noxious algae).
At a more local level, Gainesville does need more quail, fox squirrels and gopher tortoises that will likely be displaced by the proposed project. And the springs that feed the Santa Fe River need more recharge and clean groundwater to replace the flows they have already lost.
On a positive note, the Lee property offers a win-win-win opportunity for the city, county and Lee family. I suggest that the city buy the Lee property for a reasonable sum and convert a portion of it to a groundwater recharge wetland comparable to the Sweetwater Wetlands Park.
With an eye to protecting groundwater levels in the Floridan Aquifer and resulting higher spring flows, the city may ultimately be required to cut back on its existing groundwater pumping (about 20 million gallons per day).
More from Robert Knight:
Removing Rodman dam would be manna from heaven for manatees
Kings Bay restoration will only be achieved by reducing groundwater pumping
The city’s Murphree Wellfield is in the worst possible place in terms of reducing springs flows. The current pumping rate has created a 600-square-mile “capture zone” where groundwater is diverted from the springs feeding the Santa Fe River.
Creating a second city wellfield on the Lee property to serve west Gainesville in an area of higher groundwater transmissivity would allow a significant decline in pumping at Murphree and help restore aquifer levels and sustainability.
With this opinion piece I challenge city and county officials, in collaboration with the Lee family heirs, to meet and jointly envision a healthy future for Gainesville and Alachua County. Perhaps someday elected leaders and community citizens will work together to restore and protect this land and the water we call home.
Robert Knight is director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute in High Springs. You can gain additional understanding about protecting our region’s groundwater and surface water natural resources by reading his new book “Saving Florida’s Springs – A Prescription for Springs Health.” This column is part of The Sun’s Messages from the Springs Heartland series.
