What We Do

Our activities never stop.  We have no paid employees. Our work is done by volunteers

2023 Annual Review

EDUCATION:  WE EDUCATE IN MANY FORMS USING MANY MEDIA

• We have created and presented water information to over thousands of people at various events.
• Our board members have spoken on NPR, and against the Sabal pipeline on TV in Albany, GA.
• Our board members have been interviewed by radio stations such as WMNF in Tampa, and 109.4 in Gainesville.
• We have written many editorials  in several different newspapers.
• We have established a FaceBook page to share information relative to the Santa Fe and the springs.
• We have created this website www.oursantaferiver.org  with over 500 posts about the rivers, springs and environment.
• Our board members have given lectures on water conservation in local secondary schools and libraries.

FUNDRAISING:  WE ACTIVELY GENERATE FUNDS FOR OSFR

• We have held the annual Song Contest since 2010, with 44 songs about the Santa Fe, written and performed.
• We actively participated in the annual High Springs Haunted House charity fund-raiser with many hours of work.

ADVOCACY: WE TAKE ACTION AGAINST THREATS TO THE SPRINGS & RIVER

• We spoke against the Sabal Trail pipeline at many scoping meetings and wrote letters and editorials against it.
• We legally challenged a harmful water withdrawal permit, and for this we were sued.
• We stopped four water bottling plants from coming into the Santa Fe River basin.
• We helped stop a five million gallon per day peaking station in the Waccasassa Flats.
• We stopped private landowners from roping off access to public springs which are part of the SF River.
• We continuously attend water district meetings to request moratoria on excessive withdrawal permits.
• We have traveled to Miami, to Jacksonville to Tallahassee to Leesburg, GA and points in between to participate in demonstrations.
• We filed a legal Motion to Intervene against the gas transmission pipeline and also against the Seven Springs/Nestle bottled water withdrawal permit, and were a plaintiff in the suit claiming the BMAPs to be inadequate.

SUPPORT:  WE WORK WITH AGENCIES AND GROUPS TO PROTECT THE RIVER AND ENVIRONMENT

• We go to countless meetings representing our state’s legally recognized “Outstanding Florida Waters.”
• We mentor and provide guidance to new groups trying to protect the environment.
• We organized and hosted a workshop with Aquifer Watch to test wells for nitrates.We support SRWMD in their conservation endeavors, innovations and projects by writing letters and speaking before county government.
• We conceptually created the Monthly Aquifer Report that airs on WCJB CH 20, ABC News affiliate.
• We helped write curricula for the unique Water Studies Program that offers a B.S. degree at Gateway College, Lake City, FL.
• We endorsed the Florida Water & Land Legacy Campaign and the Floridian’s Clean Water Declaration Campaign.  Our president was a guest speaker at several of these events.
• We organize our own and participate in other groups’ river clean-ups.
• We renovate, clean and repair boat ramps and county parks that are vandalized or neglected.
• We request that local government entities  act to establish county or city ordinances and a state-wide resolution to ban fracking for protection of our water, land and air resources.

RECOGNITION: THE COMMUNITY RECOGNIZES OUR CONTRIBUTIONS

• We were featured in a major article in Our Town Magazine, summer, 2013; “Our Santa Fe River – Passionate Local Non-Profit Aims to Protect and Educate” and mentioned in numerous  articles  since.
• Our past president received an award for environmental leadership from Gateway College, Lake City.
• Our board members sit on innumerable boards and committees dealing with water quality and conservation.
• Our organization has been consulted by local newspapers for comments concerning environmental issues.