PALATKA, Fla., Aug. 7, 2009 - A Florida administrative law judge today issued a recommended order in the pending case which challenged the St. Johns River Water Management District's proposed issuance of a five-year consumptive use permit to Niagara Bottling LLC to withdraw 484,000 gallons of groundwater per day (on an average annual basis).

In his recommended order, Judge Bram Canter recommended that the District approve Niagara's permit. Canter's recommendation follows an April 2009 formal administrative hearing during which the involved parties (city of Groveland, Niagara Bottling and the District) testified and presented evidence. As part of the hearing, the more than 1,100 letters of public input in support and opposition that the District had received were included in the record as evidence.

The District will review the recommended order as well as any objections to the recommended order that may be filed by the parties. The District has until Sept. 21, 2009, to enter a final order to approve or deny the permit. When entering a final order, the District has limited authority to modify the recommended order.

According to a state law that went into effect July 1 (Senate Bill 2080), only the Governing Board has the authority to enter a final order denying the permit.

Background

The District Board was scheduled to consider Niagara's permit application in August 2008. Because of petitions objecting to the District staff recommendation for approval of a permit, the issue went to the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings, and a hearing was held in April 2009. Niagara proposes to withdraw groundwater for the manufacture of bottles and purified bottled water at its facility northwest of the city of Groveland in Lake County.