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Alafia River: Withdrawals Continue

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By SUSAN M. GREEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 10, 2007

Updated: 10/08/2007 08:44 pm

RIVERVIEW - For the third consecutive month, the Southwest Florida Water Management District has authorized regional supplier Tampa Bay Water to continue skimming nearly twice the percentage of Alafia River flow allowed by permit.

The river is being tapped more heavily to help bolster stored supplies for drinking water and lawn irrigation, as water managers anticipate this year's disappointing rainy season will turn into a drier-than-usual winter, said district spokeswoman Robyn Hanke. Officials have said the water will be needed to keep from straining groundwater sources.

'It's going to be a long haul until we get to the rainy season in June,' Hanke said.

She acknowledged that nearly all lakes and rivers in the 16-county district, including the Alafia, are feeling the effects of the drought. Rainfall is almost 22 inches below normal for the past two-year period, she said. Levels in the Alafia are listed as 'extremely low' on the district's Web site, last updated Sept. 4.

'All our hydrologic indicators are really low - our lakes, our rivers and our aquifer levels,' Hanke said. 'Everything is far below where it should be.'

Even so, she said, scientific evidence indicates the increased withdrawals won't harm the environment.

Some river residents and environmental advocates said they are worried.

'Everybody I have talked to in the Gibsonton area has expressed concern about this,' said Bob Minthorn, a former Alafia River Basin Board member who lives on the river. He also serves on a residents' committee to review proposed standards for maintaining healthy flows in the river.

'Why do we need to basically violate the original terms of the permit?' Minthorn said. 'I question whether or not we're really doing the river a disservice.'

Since 2003, river water has been harvested at Tampa Bay Water's intake facility off Bell Shoals Road and piped to the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir near Picnic. The reservoir has a capacity of 15 billion gallons but was only about half full in mid-September, according to the water management district.

Water from the reservoir, which also receives diverted flow from the Tampa Bypass Canal, is treated and sent to customers in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Tampa Bay Water's permit allows the supplier to siphon up to 10 percent of the Alafia's flow, when the river is running at 80 million gallons a day or more. That threshold remains the same under the emergency order, Hanke said, but up to 19 percent of the flow can be diverted to the reservoir.

Hanke said scientific studies leading up to the expected adoption of minimum flows and levels for the river by early next year provided evidence that the increased withdrawals won't harm the environment.

The latest emergency order allows increased withdrawals until Oct. 31. The district's executive director, Dave Moore, approved the extension a day after the governing board met.

Hanke said scheduling problems prevented the extension from going to a board vote, but she said board members knew the extension was likely and are expected to confirm it when they meet again in November. She said she couldn't predict whether more extensions are likely.

Beverly Griffiths, chairwoman of the Sierra Club's Tampa Bay chapter, lives on the Alafia a little east of U.S. 301. She said she has seen boaters stuck in mud that's usually covered with water, but the water management district has assured her 'we're in a dry spell, and it's nothing to do with Tampa Bay Water.'

She said the district also has assured her that effects of the emergency withdrawals will be minimal.

'I feel pretty good about that,' she said. 'I don't think we're going to see any serious impacts.'

She said she is concerned that increased water harvesting stems from 'an emergency created by poor planning,' and she thinks adequate water supplies should be in place before more people build homes in the area.

Minthorn said he has not noticed any adverse effects where he lives on the tidally influenced lower Alafia. But friends who live upriver say low water levels have affected their fishing and boating habits, he said, and people worry that the increased Alafia withdrawals will become permanent.

Those concerns have intensified as Tampa Bay Water tries to build support for reclassifying the river to meet drinking water standards, he said.

'Tampa Bay Water has been beating the bushes high and low to get support for reclassifying the river from III to I,' Minthorn said, referring to state water quality standards. 'Everybody kind of thinks, 'Why would they want to do that?''

A Tampa Bay Water consultant told the Alafia River Ridge Civic Association in August the push to reclassify the river was not tied to plans to pull more water from the river. But he said increased withdrawals weren't out of the question.

Hanke said the water management district has not received any request from Tampa Bay Water to increase Alafia withdrawals permanently.

The supplier has broached the idea of pulling more water from the Alafia and replacing it with highly treated sewage water.

If that idea becomes a concrete proposal, Minthorn said, 'I think that's when the uproar is going to come, because people don't want that.'

ALAFIA RIVER MINIMUM FLOWS

The Agency on Bay Management's Habitat Restoration Subcommittee is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Thursday to discuss proposed standards for maintaining minimum flows in the lower Alafia River. Sid Flannery of the Southwest Florida Water Management District will present scientific findings.

The meeting will be at the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, 4000 Gateway Centre Blvd., Suite 100, in Pinellas Park. For information, call (727) 570-5151, Ext. 32.

WATERING RESTRICTIONS EXTENDED

The Southwest Florida Water Management District governing board voted Sept. 23 to continue restricting lawn watering throughout its 16-county jurisdiction, including Hillsborough, to one day a week through Nov. 30.

The move was among actions the board is taking to cope with drought.

Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.

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