Fight the Water Bottling Permit at Heartwood Soundstage
Saturday, September 11th, 2021, the Florida Springs Council (FSC) will host an outdoor benefit concert called “Save the Soul of the Santa Fe River” at Heartwood Soundstage, 619 South Main Street, Gainesville. Gates open at 6:00pm, live music from 7:00-10:00pm. Tickets are $10 for students and $20 regular admission.
The concert will feature springs-themed vendors, area water advocates, vegetarian food trucks, and bands “Shine and the Shakers,” “Madwoman,” and “Tamayo.” Tamayo recently canceled a performance scheduled at Ginnie Springs Outdoors campground to protest the exploitation of the springs by the owners of Ginnie Springs, who also own Seven Springs Water Company, the holder of the permit.
This event is being held to raise funds for FSC’s legal challenge against a recently approved Water Bottling Permit that will allow nearly one million gallons of water per day to be extracted from Ginnie Springs. The permit holder, Seven Springs Water Company, paid a one-time fee of $115 for the permit but will pay nothing for the water they extract to sell to BlueTriton Brands (previously Nestle Waters) to be bottled. The permit, and the resulting harm to local waterways, has drawn a great deal of public outcry. This event is an opportunity for people to show opposition to the permit and help the Florida Springs Council raise the funds necessary to overturn the permit decision in court.
According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, when the bottled water operation is ramped up to pump the full permitted amount, this one water use will reduce spring flow by nearly 4%, more than half of the 6.6% reduction estimated to occur from all water uses, including agricultural and residential use.
“It’s absolute madness for this one water user to single-handedly be responsible for as much of the reduction in spring flow as all other uses combined, at great profit to them but at great expense to the waterway and to the taxpayers footing the bill for restoration projects.” says Brenda Wells, Communications Director at the Florida Springs Council.
“Save the Soul of the Santa Fe River” outdoor benefit concert will be held Saturday, September 11th at Heartwood Soundstage, 619 South Main Street, Gainesville. Gates open at 6:00pm, live music from 7:00-10:00pm. Tickets are $10 for students and $20 regular admission. For more information and to purchase tickets visit https://www.facebook.com/events/183760567126764/
That the Suwannee River Water Management District Board of Directors unanimously voted to disregard 20 thousand letters opposing the permit to Seven Springs shows forcefully and beyond a doubt that they have no interest in protecting, restoring or preserving our natural water resources. They serve as a rubber stamp for the commercialization of your springs and your water.
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
Brenda Wells, Communications Director
Florida Springs Council
352-281-4255
brendawells@floridaspringscouncil.org
Tamayo band: tamayoband@gmail.com
Public River –
A river capable in it’s natural state of some useful service to the public because of it’s existence as such, navigability being not the sole test.
St. Regis Paper Co. v New Hampshire Water Resources Board, 92 N.H. 164, 26 4.2d 832, 838
Black’s Law Dictionary