Public opposition is mounting to a proposal to pump nearly 500,000 gallons of water daily from two Sumter County springs.
Nearly 50 emails and letters objecting to the plan have been sent to the state Water Use Permit Bureau over the past several weeks. Those come after an overflow crowd opposed to the pumping showed up last month at a meeting of the Sumter County Commission. You can read more about that meeting HERE
SWR Properties of Ocala, also known as Spring Water Resources, wants to begin pumping water by November from Fern Spring and an unnamed spring along County Road 470 near Sumterville. The company filed a 20-year permit application last November.
The well normally would operate about 13 hours a day and fill 80 trucks with 6,200 gallons each, according to documents filed with the permit. In peak months, however, it would operate 24 hours a day, pumping 892,000 gallons and filling 144 trucks. The water would be sold to Azure Water of Leesburg, which supplies grocery, convenience and other stores with bottled water under several brand names.
Last month, Ralph Kerr, a senior professional geologist with the state Water Use Permit Bureau, gave company manager Darryl Lanker 90 days to clarify the project’s expected effect on the Belton’s Millpond, which is nearby. Kerr wrote in a letter that the pumping could drain the millpond and that the requested amount of water might need to be restricted.
Besides the water permit, the company also will need permits from Sumter County to build on the property and from the state for sanitary sewer facilities. The company plans to build a pumping station, loading driveway and modular office building on the 10.5-acre property, which it owns.
Many Villages residents voiced objections to the plan in the emails and letters to the bureau.
“I believe granting this permit would be irresponsible in the extreme,” wrote Villager Marsha Shearer. “We are already experiencing the impact of climate change that could well increase draught cycles which could lower the aquifer.”
Villager Michael Kallio wrote that area growth will place increasing demands on the aquifer.
“The citizens of Sumter County will need every drop of water that will be available to safely pull out of the aquifers now and in the immediate future,” he wrote.
Terry and Saundra LaPrise, also of The Villages, wrote that the pumping could cause sinkholes and tighter water restrictions. Villager Mary Lou Mason wrote that the pumping will have a negative effect on future growth, animals and agriculture.
“My grand-daughter lives in central Florida,” wrote Marilyn J. Schmidt. “Although I would likely be detrimentally affected by the inevitable water shortage that would ensure, my grand-daughter would definitely be affected by it.”
An environmental analysis estimated the well would lower the surficial aquifer by 0.4 feet and would lower the Florida aquifer by 0.25 feet. Estimated flow rates of the two springs are 11.8 million gallons a day.
