Sept. / Oct.  2010 Page 2

President's Report

By Ed Taylor

President's Report

Let's step back in time with the potable water status concerning Rodman, and then we'll bring you up to speed with the present news that made my day and will probably make yours too.

About six or seven years ago when the potable water shortage in Florida first surfaced and became a hot topic I did some research and jumped in the middle of it all… I introduced Rodman as a future potable water source for our citizens.

What became a hot item was when I challenged the 1995 studies stating the Ocklawaha River could yield 107 million gallons of water a day with or without the reservoir. This figure was thrown in my face numerous times by both the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) and the Putnam County Environmental Council.

I argued the point that you could not get 107 millions of water a day without the reservoir at various meetings I attended, legislative delegations, and committees in Tallahassee.  Simple math was used to back my up my statement. The St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) has measured the flow of the Ocklawaha River for many years. The highest flow rate was measured at 834 million gallons a day, the lowest was 436 million gallons a day. The SJRWMD told me that they would not allow over approximately a 10% reduction in the flow of a river via withdrawals. DO THE MATH. It does not come to 107 million gallons a day.

There were some that told me I was challenging the experts that performed the study on this issue. I was ignored, shunned, laughed at and also heard a few statements I will not put in this report. I always answered with- no I am not an expert on this issue but I do know how to do third grade math.

Now, lets get to the juicy part. The Putnam County Environmental Council hired a consulting firm to do an in depth study on a safe yield of the Ocklawaha River…

A Mr. Phillip Davis with SDI Environmental Services in Tampa performed the study. It is apparent the study back fired on them. This is a 21 page study and I am just going to give you a few quotes from it. 

Quotes from the study:

There is too much uncertainty in the development of the 1995 Ocklawaha River "safe yield" estimate of 107 million gallons per day made by the SJRWMD to justify using that estimate for water supply planning purposes.

SJRWMD has had several opportunities to update this 15 year old study "safe yield" and has failed to do so.

SJRWMD has conducted several more recent studies but no published study has attempted to modify the "safe yield"

I called the SJRWMD about this report and asked them when their report would be complete on determining what they thought would be a safe yield from the Ocklawaha River. They said it would be complete in 2011, but the next statement that was made I almost fell out of my chair. They finally admitted IT WOULD BE MUCH LESS THAN 107 million gallons a day. It will have taken them 16 years to relay the facts.

Why did they stick to the 107 million gallons a day for so long? The simple answer is… In 1995 every state agency in Tallahassee wanted to see Rodman destroyed.

But as the old saying goes, you can only hide the truth for so long and it will eventually catch up with you. I can hardly wait until I come face to face with those that ridiculed me as they are going to get a belly full of me... STAY TUNED!!!