Unfortunately, water management districts have stopped considering what is in the public’s best interest when issuing water use permits, even when the public makes their interests and concerns crystal clear. It literally represents our interest in how our most important resource, groundwater, is used. The SRWMD rules define “public interest” as the “broad-based interests and concerns that are collectively shared by members of a community or residents of the District or State.” These interests and concerns, which include environmental impacts, were not addressed in the permit application nor by the SRWMD Governing Board in making their decision to grant the permit.Įnsuring that a permit is in the “public interest” is the most important of the three prongs. The dis trict's rules require that all permits pass a "Three Prong Test."ĭoes the water use interfere with an existing legal use Second, the SRWMD Governing Board failed to consider whether issuing the consumptive use permit was “consistent with the public interest” as required by SRWMD rules and Florida St atute. Without the actual water user on the permit, the SRWMD has no way to assure that the allocated water will be used in a reasonable and beneficial manner or enforce compliance with SRWMD rules. Under SRWMD rules, Seven Springs Water Co., therefore, does not have the legal right to conduct the water use. Currently that facility is owned by BlueTriton (the new name of Nestle Waters North America.) According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, when fully operational, the pumping authorized under this permit will cause a 4 percent reduction in flows from Ginnie Springs to the Santa Fe River, as much as all other uses combined.įirst, Seven Springs Water Co., the name under which the owners of Ginnie Springs applied for the permit, does not own or control the neighboring bottling facility where the water use will occur. The Santa Fe River no longer meets its mandated "MFL," Minimum Flow and Level, below which the river ecosystem experiences significant harm. Ginnie Springs flows into the Santa Fe River which is already suffering “significant harm” from over-pumping. Nestle Waters North America sold their bottled water interests, which underwent a name change and now operate as BlueTriton. Nestle's purchase of the bottling plant just before the permit was renewed enabled the plant to triple their capacity, tripling the amount that would be pulled from the spring.
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They sell the water they pull for free to the bottling plant nearby, which was owned by Nestle Waters at the time of the permit.
Seven Springs Water Company does not bottle water. The Water Management District and Seven Springs Water Company are being challenged by FSC in this legal case.
The Suwannee River Water Management District granted the permit. Seven Springs Water Co., owned by the owners of Ginnie Springs Outdoors, holds and profits from the permit. While the case is often called the "Nestle" case, Nestle is not directly involved.
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