The St. Johns River Water Management District appears poised to receive $400 million to spend on land for a massive new reservoir and stormwater treatment area (STA), according to an item towards the back of this year’s General Appropriations Act, House Bill 5001.
Plans for the Grove Land Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area project have been in the works for several years. A 2015 study by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) mentions the project, and last year, Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a $6 million appropriation for it.
Once complete, the planned Grove Land Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area Project will divert excess stormwater discharges away from the Indian River Lagoon, treat the stormwater, and store it in a 5,000-acre reservoir, according to the FDEP study.
Although the reservoir and STA itself would be in Indian River and Okeechobee counties, the project could potentially help boost Central Florida’s water supply with up to 100 millions of gallons (mgd) that would enter the St. Johns River’s headwaters daily, per a 2020 regional water supply plan from the Central Florida Water Initiative (CFWI).
But St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman says she hasn’t yet seen evidence that the project would provide any additional flow, at least not any that could be sustainably considered for alternative water supply projects, like this one. She says the nonprofit is requesting public records right now to try and better understand the planning behind the project.
“I really question the use of ‘alternative water supply,’ because there's only a certain amount of water that we have,” Rinaman said. “Right now in the state of Florida, we don't have a water supply problem; we have a water use problem.”
Regionally, landscape irrigation — basically, watering lawns — accounts for more than half of all residential water use, according to SJRWMD.
“This is basically a public subsidy by taxpayers to fuel urban sprawl and harm the St. Johns River, our Florida springs, as well as potentially increase flood risk downstream."Lisa Rinaman, St. Johns Riverkeeper
Rinaman says the project would just shift pollution issues from one watershed boundary over to another, something she says regulatory agencies typically consider to be problematic.
“There's two different watersheds,” Rinaman said, referencing the St. Johns River and South Florida water management districts. “And so they're resolving some pollution issues in one watershed by shifting that pollution north to the St. Johns River. And this isn't the first time, and that's what's so infuriating.”
“This is basically a public subsidy by taxpayers to fuel urban sprawl and harm the St. Johns River, our Florida springs, as well as potentially increase flood risk downstream,” Rinaman said.
