The Florida Spring Council and Santa Fe River have filed a legal challenge against the approval of the Seven Springs Consumptive Use Permit that allows the extraction of around 1 million gallons of water per day near Ginnie Springs for Nestle鈥檚 bottling operations.
The Suwannee River Water Management District communications manager, Lindsey Covington, said the board has until March 31 to finish deliberations regarding the legal challenge.
鈥淲ith receiving a petition, we have to answer two questions, which is, if it is timely and then the other question is, if it substantially complies with rules, and if it does do both of these, then we refer the petition to DOAH,鈥� she said.
Florida Springs Council director Ryan Smart fears they may deny it entirely if the board chooses not to send the challenge to the Division of Administrative Hearings, or hold an internal hearing.
鈥淎nother thing they can do is just deny the petition outright and say, you know, we don鈥檛 see anything here that needs to be litigated, in which case we could appeal their decision to do that to the District Court of Appeals,鈥� Smart said. 鈥淪o, there鈥檚 three different options and the timeline for the case really depends on what the district鈥檚 next move is.鈥�
As deliberations continue, the pumping continues.
鈥淪ee, they鈥檝e been extracting water the whole time. Because Seven Springs already has a water use permit, and as long as the litigation is ongoing they can continue to pump,鈥� Smart said.
A decision from the Suwannee River Water Management District board is expected by the end of the month.
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