Florida Springs Council sues FDEP — again

A judge’s order issued this week confirms a new lawsuit against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is valid and can move forward, according to the Florida Springs Council, the nonprofit which filed the lawsuit in Hernando County earlier this month.

FSC seeks a court order forcing FDEP to adopt new rules for issuing permits to pump Florida’s freshwater springs, also known as consumptive use permits, or CUPs. A 2016 state law requires the agency to do just that, but nearly nine years later, the new rules still haven’t come to fruition.

Now, after trying time and time again to engage with FDEP on the outstanding rules — and repeatedly getting the runaround — FSC is left with little recourse beyond the lawsuit filed earlier this month, according to an attorney representing the nonprofit.

“We’re not messing around anymore,” said Rachael Curran, Staff Attorney at Stetson University’s Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment.

Most Floridians’ drinking water comes from the same groundwater feeding Florida’s 1,000+ freshwater springs. But for 30 designated Outstanding Florida Springs, “action is urgently needed” to prevent future water quality and quantity declines, according to the 2016 Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act.

For those 30 Outstanding Florida Springs, the law directs FDEP to adopt “uniform rules for issuing permits which prevent groundwater withdrawals that are harmful to the water resources.” Additionally, FDEP must define what the clause “harmful to the water resources” actually means.