PALATKA — The door opened Tuesday for new residents flowing into west Volusia County to take a gulp out of the spring that protects hundreds of endangered manatees.
Regional water managers approved a plan that could weaken the flow of water into Blue Spring, but they promised to make sure the spring flow at that critical manatee habitat will rise again by requiring utilities in fast-growing west Volusia to find a new source of water.
Environmentalists still warned that the 19-year plan for the Orange City spring, which supports more than 200 manatees, could set up a “water war” between the animals that depend on the spring and people who may not want to give up their wells.
The Blue Spring flow was decided on a day when officials with the St. Johns River Water Management District also wrestled with how to curb Central Florida’s addiction to underground water supplies.
Board members launched an ambitious plan to halt more than 80 utilities from increasing water they pump from the Floridan Aquifer beyond 2013.
The Blue Spring regulation, which establishes a legal minimum for the average spring flow, should be used as a clear limit on how much groundwater can be used for Volusia utilities, district officials said.
As one of Florida’s largest springs, Blue Spring flows at an average annual rate of 1,174 gallons per second, or 157 cubic feet. That flow of 72-degree water provides a vital refuge for manatees, who couldn’t survive the winter cold.
The regulation does not necessarily mean more water will be pumped. But the new plan allows the average flow rate to drop to 133 cubic feet per second until March 2009. In following years, the flow rate would have to gradually rise back to 157 cubic feet per second by 2024.
That could allow utilities to pump more water and accommodate more development. District officials emphasized they wouldn’t issue water-use permits that would let the spring plummet that much.
John Sowinski, an Orlando board member, likened the minimum-flow plan to a minimum income needed to support a family, saying: “I wouldn’t want to live at the minimum, and neither should the manatees at the end of the day. But we want to establish that minimum, scientifically, so we know to avoid it.”
Manatee advocates worried the plan could harm manatees, especially if data underestimate the number of manatees at the spring in the future.
Sandra Clinger, with the Save the Manatee Club, said the lower spring flow could confine manatees in a more crowded habitat, without knowing how that will affect survival or behavior.
Ann T. Moore of Bunnell was the only board member present who voted against the spring minimum, saying there was real potential manatees could be harmed and that spring flow may not return to the standard.
“I think it’s impossible to guarantee these numbers because human nature enters the picture,” she said. “There may be a change of mind-set and political will that will result in a compromise and a reduced spring flow.”
The key to avoiding those potential problems, other board members said, depends upon west Volusia utilities scaling back pumps and turning to a different water source. Volusia utilities have until 2018 to begin converting the St. Johns River into drinking water.
The unprecedented move to cap water withdrawals from the imperiled Floridan Aquifer in 2013 is a gambit by district officials to force utilities to move quickly to build treatment plants along waterways such as the St. Johns River.
District board members agreed to the concept, expected to draw participation by the South Florida and the Southwest Florida water-management districts.
By working as partners, the three water districts hope to draft details for how utilities can share, and not fight over, the relatively tiny amount of aquifer water still available.
The concept to stop increased aquifer pumping in 2013 must be defined and given final approval in coming months. One board member pressed agency staffers for assurance the 2013 cutoff would be enforced more forcefully than district rules have been.
“A lot of us aren’t going to be here when this stuff hits the fan in six or seven years,” board member Robert “Clay” Albright of Ocala said. “I want something with teeth in it.”
Albright said his agency should demand that utilities show specific progress in coming months toward building new treatment plants.
Another board member, William Kerr of Melbourne Beach, warned that utilities are not inclined to spend large amounts for a treatment plant that won’t open until well into the next decade. Their instinct will be to focus on what’s left in the Floridan Aquifer.
“There’s going to be pressure to get the cheaper water,” Kerr said.
