PALATKA, Fla., Aug. 11, 2008 — The petition filed today by the Lake County Board of County Commissioners and the city of Groveland challenging the proposed issuance of a consumptive use permit to Niagara Bottling LLC sends the permit application to the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH).

The matter will be heard by a neutral DOAH administrative law judge who will conduct a formal hearing on the permit application and make a recommendation to the St. Johns River Water Management District’s Governing Board.

The Governing Board will consider the administrative law judge’s recommendation and vote in a future public meeting to approve or deny the permit application. It is estimated that the judge’s recommendation will come before the Governing Board in approximately six months.

DOAH is a state agency established by Florida Statutes to hold hearings on disputes over actions by agencies in Florida.

The application was to have gone before the Governing Board on Aug. 12, but was removed from the agenda on Aug. 5 in anticipation of the petition being filed.

Niagara has applied for a consumptive use permit to withdraw 484,000 gallons of groundwater per day (on an average annual basis). Niagara proposes to manufacture plastic water bottles and to purify groundwater for bottled drinking water using a reverse osmosis process. Niagara’s facility is located in an industrial park located northwest of the city of Groveland in Lake County.

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Note: On July 1, 2009, Senate Bill 2080 became law, amending Chapter 373, Florida Statutes and changing the process in which water resource permits are approved by the state's five water management districts. The new law directs the governing boards of the water management districts to delegate their authority to approve permits to their executive directors. The executive directors may designate other District staff to approve permits. Permit applications that are recommended for denial will continue to be considered by the governing boards.