Water War Ends in Defeat for Groveland, Florida

The water war between the city of Groveland (in Lake County, Florida) and California bottler Niagara has come to an end. An administrative-law judge put aside the city's objections Friday and recommended that a permit be given to extract 484,000 gallons per day from a local aquifer.

The recommendation is not the final say. That goes to St. Johns River Water Management District who must approve or deny the Niagara permit by September 21. But, they have little power to modify the permit and are likely to grant Niagara the right to extract water.

The fight has gone on for some time. City officials claimed that pumping so much water from the aquifer would damage the environment, and launched a sophisticated public relations campaign against Niagara which included a website. Townspeople who agreed with the city didn't think it was fair to allow bulk water extraction for profit when water-management officials were tightening regional watering restrictions and directing communities to seek out alternative water resources. Some people didn't think Niagara was creating enough jobs (100) for the amount of water they proposed to take and others were opposed to the water being shipped out of the state. 

But the judge disagreed with critics saying that Niagara had cited much evidence that it was entitled to the permit it and that its extraction was unlikely to cause harm to wetlands and lakes.

Groveland has spent around $300,000 to stop Niagara from getting a permit. Before Lake County backed out of the legal fight, their total was around $200,000. Niagara has not made its legal costs public, but has indicated that if a judge ruled in their favor it may look to claw back legal costs from the city and county. What a nightmare!

Photo: City of Groveland