Citizens Fight to Protect the Santa Fe River from Bottlers
Last week, citizens in Florida got a strong commitment from Columbia county officials that no new water bottler on the Santa Fe River would be allowed. The county‚ statement is expected to carry serious weight in whether the Suwannee River Water Management District, which has final say on water permits, gives the bottling facility a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
Part of the success is due to the work of Our Santa Fe River (OSFR), an organization of North Florida citizens working to protect the river. The group, a strong ally of Food & Water Watch, continues to successfully lead the fight against several dangerous bottling proposals that could harm the river‚ ecosystem and contribute to declining water levels in the region.
This latest in a line of zany schemes aims to build a pipeline from Santa Fe Springs to a facility about five miles away. As always, bottling proponents tout the facility as a job creator. But these bottling jobs have been found to be low-paying and dangerous.
The craziest part of all, however, is that this is the third bottling facility being sought in a three-mile stretch on the river. Just a few months ago, the owners of a springhead called Lily Springs asked for a permit to transport water by tanker trucks to an as-yet-to-be-built bottling facility.
Luckily, OSFR has defeated similar bottling plans in the past. In February, OSFR won a huge victory against another proposed $25 million facility near Blue Springs. The fierce public opposition to this plant, which may have had corporate backers, ultimately got the water management district to deny the permit.
The 75-mile Santa Fe River, a tributary to the fabled Suwannee River, is well known for its distinct cypress trees and freshwater turtles. OSFR and citizens in the area plan to keep it that way.
Want to help? While the Santa Fe Springs permit request is still being submitted, hundreds of letters in opposition to the Lily Springs permit have already reached the local water management district. Do you live in Florida? You should write one too!
-Jorge Aguilar