Florida's Aquifer Flows In Swiss-Cheesy Karst (At Astonishing Rates) But No Slowdown In Permits

[hatrack]

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Much of Florida's water for drinking and sprinkling comes from its aquifer. Because it lies deep in the earth, the state's water districts rely on modeling in making decisions about how much can be pumped out without harming nearby springs, lakes and wetlands, not to mention other water users. "It's the primary tool that's used for looking at what the impacts of groundwater withdrawals will be," said Ken Weber, who until last year oversaw permitting for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, commonly known as Swiftmud. The agency approved more than 1,000 permits for its 16-county area last year and rejected only two.

The computer models — a series of mathematical equations based on data from wells and other sources — have also been crucial to the state's effort to track nitrate pollution from fertilizer, sewage and animal waste that have fouled the springs and fueled the growth of toxic algae blooms.

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Darrin Herbst, now in charge of Swiftmud's permit program, contended that his staff can tweak the models to fit what they see pumping doing to the aquifer, so there should be no problem. However, he acknowledges their model tweaking did not foresee what happened three years ago in Plant City: Farmers trying to protect their crops during a freeze pumped so much water that the aquifer dropped 60 feet in just days. As a result, 140 sinkholes opened up throughout the region. "The magnitude caught us off-guard," he said.

The models still do all right when they are focused on projecting the aquifer's flows on a regional scale — say, covering from Central Florida to the coast — because "you can be off by quite a bit but it doesn't matter," Weber said. But looking at a smaller area for individual permits is "a lot trickier.''

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http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/floridas-aquifer-models-full-of-holes-allowing-more-water-permits-and/1272555

[pscot]

1. you can be off by quite a bit but it doesn't matter,

That doesn't sound very sciencey.

[Nihil]

2. What do you expect from a politically-oriented manager?

> contended that his staff can tweak the models to fit what they see pumping
> doing to the aquifer, so there should be no problem.

Hey, he says that there should be no problem so whatcha whining about?

His job is to maintain Business As Usual so they'll keep on doing whatever
they've been doing for years (unsuccessfully) right up to the point when they
can't do it any more ... then he'll either retire in comfort or start writing begging
letters to the government to help them out ...