Editorial: Springs funding

Published: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 at 9:57 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 at 9:57 p.m.

It's been a big month for Florida's springs. Whether it will end up being a big year remains to be seen.

The announcement Tuesday by Gov. Rick Scott that he will request $55 million in funding for springs restoration and protection in this year's budget is just the latest pro-springs move by Tallahassee policymakers. Though skeptics will say it is merely an election-year ploy by Scott, the fact remains Florida's 700 springs particularly its 33 first-magnitude springs, including Silver and Rainbow are suffering from long-term degradation, and the help is desperately needed.

Scott's $55 million surprise comes on the heels of a proposal by five influential Senate committee chairmen to allocate the first 20 percent of state documentary stamp revenues, or about $378 million, to springs and groundwater cleanup, largely through septic tank repair or replacement.

The senators including Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, and Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, who represent Marion County also are calling for the creation of "protection and management zones" around the 33 first-magnitude springs and five others considered important. In those zones, septic tanks would be repaired, or homeowners would be hooked up to a central sewer system at no cost. Also, the issuance of new water permits would be severely curtailed.

While those two proposals surely please water-quality advocates, state Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, was less encouraging about the chances of any sea of change in Florida water policy in the upcoming legislative session in March. Crisafulli, the House speaker designate for 2015 and House Speaker Will Weatherford's point man on water issues, said in an interview with the Florida Current this week that the senators' plan was too costly and would not likely survive in the House, at least not as proposed.

Nonetheless, Crisafulli has indicated in recent months that Florida must begin addressing its water problems, and the solution starts with taking a statewide approach.

"There is not a silver bullet to fix all these problems," he told the Current. "It's just a matter of working with the current situation."

Unfortunately, the current situation is a crisis of our springs, rivers, lakes and aquifer. Florida has allowed its waters to become over-polluted and over-pumped, and time is not on the state's side if it is going to restore and protect its springs and surface waters and, in turn, its groundwater.

State economists expect Florida to enjoy an $846 million budget surplus this year, and there are certainly plenty of overdue needs that could use some of that money. Clean and ample water, however, is more than a need; it is an essential if Florida expects to continue prospering into the 21st century.

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Editorial: Springs funding