Less Water Oversight = Less Resource Protection

The Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) is recommending minimum flows for Horse Creek and Charlie Creek.

Horse Creek and Charlie Creek are in portions of DeSoto, Hardee, and Polk counties and are two tributaries of the Peace River.

Minimum flows are limits established by the District’s Governing Board, and required by state law, to protect flowing water bodies from significant harm caused by ground and surface water withdrawals.

The Governing Board is expected to address these minimum flow recommendations in December. 

ManaSota-88 is opposed to the recommended 15 percent significant harm threshold for the minimum flows and levels (MFL) of Horse Creek and Charlie Creek. The significant harm threshold should be set as close to zero percent as possible.
  
Existing legal users are not expected to be impacted by the MFL for either system, therefore adopting a low significant harm threshold would be protective of the water resources for both creeks since minimum flows and levels will only apply to new permit withdrawals. 

MFLs are limits to protect flowing water bodies from the significant harm caused by ground and surface water withdrawals. If the MFL is not met, then the District can implement a recovery and prevention strategy, therefore there is no need to adopt a 15 percent significant harm threshold. 
 
If SWFWMD adopts low minimum flows and levels, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to increase the MFL after they are adopted. If the environmental resource values are further impacted, not only from currently permitted water withdrawals, but additional permitted withdrawals, SWFWMD would not be able to adequately protect the fish and wildlife habitats, water quality, or estuarine resources of Charlie and Horse Creeks. 
 
The District is considering minimum flows that will ultimately result in irreversible and needless damage to the water resources. By the time it is realized a mistake has been made, it will be too late to do anything about it.
 
SWFWMD’s recommended minimum flows for Horse Creek and Charlie Creek are deficient in many areas. The recommended MFLs fail to consider the environmental cost and adverse impacts associated with the continued over-permitting of the District’s consumptive use water permits.  The recommended MFLs do nothing to improve the water quality of these waterways. Both Horse Creek and Charlie Creek have been listed as impaired waters by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. 
 
There is little consideration being given to adopting an MFL for a healthy water body versus an impaired water body, nor does it appear SWFWMD has considered the future changes in land uses within the Horse Creek and Charlie Creek watersheds associated with agricultural operations, increased residential and commercial development, and the significant increase in phosphate mining operations. Both creeks will likely become further impaired as these land use changes occur. 
 
By adopting MFLs that do not effectively implement the regulatory powers given SWFWMD, the protection of water resources cannot possibly occur. Regrettably, SWFWMD is considering minimum flows that will ultimately result in irreversible and needless damage to the water resources.
  
The resource protections for the creeks are based on the 10 percent criteria for determining surface water availability. The recommended MFLs assume the creeks do not need 10 percent of their water flow at high periods to remain healthy, although it has not been established that a reduction in water flow is not going to harm a body of water.
 
As with the history of groundwater permitting, faulty criteria are being used in making assumptions about the availability of surface water without harm to the resource.
 
The 10 percent rule and the 85 percent minimum flow level criteria do not protect the needs of natural systems. SWFWMD assumes the creeks are static and not dynamic systems. Creeks flood, meander, and change their locations. Land use, development patterns, and property rights force the waterbed to maintain its present location, discounting the natural processes of river flooding and meandering, as a result, the upper 10% of the water flow may be critical in maintaining the long-term health of a river’s ecology.
 
The recommended minimum flows wrongly assume there will be no damage to the water resource if the 15 percent significant harm threshold is implemented. 
  
Reasonable conclusions cannot possibly support the adoption of the 15 percent significant harm threshold.
 
Additional information can be found on Horse Creek and Charlie Creek at:

WaterMatters.org/documents-and-reports

 Horse Creek and Charlie Creek webpage

Glenn Compton is the Chairman of ManaSota 88, a non-profit organization that has spent over 30 years fighting to protect the environment of Manatee and Sarasota counties.