St. Johns River Water Management District

News Release

nr09-055

Additional water supply planning meetings scheduled

PALATKA, Fla., Aug. 21, 2009 - The St. Johns River Water Management District has scheduled additional public meetings to encourage public participation in the development of the District Water Supply Plan (DWSP) 2010 and review of the draft District Water Supply Assessment (WSA) 2008.

WSA 2008 and DWSP 2010 are being designed to meet the requirements of the water supply planning provisions of Florida Statutes. The District began hosting public meetings in May.

The draft WSA 2008 includes projections of water use through the year 2030 and identifies areas where current and anticipated sources of water and conservation efforts will not be adequate to meet projected needs and sustain the water resources and related natural systems. These areas are called priority water resource caution areas (PWRCAs).

Approximately 97 percent of the District's 18-county region has been identified in the draft WSA 2008 as PWRCAs or potential PWRCAs. Through the planning process, the potential PWRCAs will be refined to determine whether they are indeed areas of concern or should be reduced in scope.

The public meetings will focus on the central, southern and northern water supply planning areas of the District.

The meetings are scheduled for:

• Aug. 26, 9 a.m., Northern Florida/Upper Sante Fe Basin modeling subgroup, Governing Board room, District headquarters, 4049 Reid St. (Hwy. 100 West), Palatka
• Aug. 28, 9 a.m., Water Conservation subgroup, District headquarters, 4049 Reid St. (Hwy. 100 West), Palatka
• Sept. 25, 9 a.m., Volusia County Minimum Flows and Levels subgroup, Volusia County training room, first floor, Thomas C. Kelly Administrative Center, 123 W. Indiana Ave., DeLand
• Sept. 30, 9 a.m., Northern Florida/Upper Sante Fe Basin modeling subgroup, Governing Board room, District headquarters, 4049 Reid St. (Hwy. 100 West), Palatka
• Oct. 1, 10 a.m., Water Conservation subgroup, District headquarters, 4049 Reid St. (Hwy. 100 West), Palatka
• Oct. 15, 10 a.m., Northern Florida/Upper Sante Fe Basin modeling subgroup, Governing Board room, District headquarters, 4049 Reid St. (Hwy. 100 West), Palatka(Meeting information has changed. Visit www.sjrwmd.com/watersupplyplanning/upcomingmeetings.html for new information.)

District objectives for the 2010 water supply planning process are to allow review and further evaluation of projected water resource impacts, finalize identification of PWRCAs for the 2010 plan, complete WSA 2008 and include it as an appendix in the 2010 plan, identify strategies to prevent unacceptable impacts and incorporate these strategies into the 2010 plan.

The District is taking every opportunity to ensure that the public has an opportunity to participate in this important planning process. Visit the District's Web site at www.sjrwmd.com/watersupplyplanning for more information.

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