The current (Fall, 2014) Earthjustice Quarterly Magazine has a succinct and totally accurate paragraph describing the sad situation regarding the failure of Florida’s governing bodies to protect its water resources.
FLORIDA: STATE ALLOWS FLORIDA’S SPRINGS TO GO FOUL
Florida’s more-than-900 freshwater springs, some of them considered the best swimming holes in the state, are being drained and dirtied to death by shortsighted state regulators beholden to industry. Once clear blue, many of these springs are now filled with algae thanks to excess amounts of manure sewage and fertilizer. The state is also issuing permits to pump too much water from the springs, harming natural systems. Earthjustice is challenging the state’s failure to protect one of its most spectacular spring-filled regions, located in the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee rivers. (p. 9)
Last week administrative law judge Bram Canter handed a victory to the Earthjustice lawyers and challenger Paul Still and the Ichetucknee Alliance when he rejected the minimum flows and levels proposal by Suwannee River Water Manager District officials.
