OUC raises specter of water war, seeks to extend permit for pumping vulnerable Floridan Aquifer

Orlando’s utility will seek renewal of its permit to pump an enormous amount of water from the vulnerable Floridan Aquifer, nearly two decades after a similar move triggered an arduous water war with Orange County and several other Central Florida governments.

This time around, Orlando Utilities Commission has not forewarned neighbors of its intentions to secure rights to one of the state’s most contested resources. The utility’s current allocation dwarfs nearly all others of its kind in Florida, including the relatively small bottled-water permits drawing intense public outrage.

“We know there is competition,” said Christopher Browder, chief legal officer at OUC, whose board decided Tuesday without comment to move forward on a permit renewal. “We expect to have some intervenors.”

In the early 2000s, OUC was aggressive in staking a claim for one of the largest withdrawals of Floridan Aquifer water permitted in the state. Florida then was experiencing blistering population growth amid a dawning realization of the environmental perils of heavy pumping from the aquifer’s rain-filled limestone deep underground.

The massive aquifer underlying much of Florida flows up at springs, hydrates wetlands and is the foundation of rivers and lakes.