The Suwannee River Water Management District Governing Board on Tuesday signed off on renewing a controversial permit that will allow piping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water a day to a North Florida bottling plant.
The board’s decision came after years of legal battles and a recommended order issued in October by Administrative Law Judge Francine Ffolkes. Under administrative law, Ffolkes’ recommended order went to the governing board for a final decision.
The issue centers on a request by Seven Springs Water Co. to renew a permit, first issued in 1994, to pump water and send it to a nearby bottling plant in the Ginnie Springs area of Gilchrist County. Seven Springs filed the renewal application in 2019, but it ran into heavy opposition from people and groups concerned about issues such as effects on water flow in the Lower Santa Fe River.
Ffolkes rejected objections raised in a challenge filed by the Florida Springs Council. Under the order, Seven Springs would be able to pump an average of 984,000 gallons of water a day. Water will be bottled at the facility owned by BlueTriton Brands.
In the past, Seven Springs’ permit allowed average water withdrawals of 1.152 million gallons a day, though it pumped less than that, according to documents in the case. Doug McLaughlin, an attorney for the Florida Springs Council, told the water-management district board Tuesday that it should consider the “public interest” in making its decision and pointed to public opposition to the permit. But Doug Manson, attorney for Seven Springs, said the company had met the legal criteria for a permit.