Florida Environments

Nestlé drops idea of water pumping near Wacissa River

Nestlé Waters North America on Wednesday told state officials the company no longer is considering a water-pumping operation along the Wacissa River in Jefferson County. Nestlé, a global water company which includes bottling operations near Blue Spring in Madison County and near Crystal Springs in Pasco County, said testing of Allen Spring along the Wacissa [...]

Author says “water ethic” needed in Florida’s future

Florida doesn’t need another white paper offering water policy recommendations to protect future water supplies. What the state finally needs is a “water ethic.” That’s the case made in a recent report by the Collins Center for Public Policy called “Our Water, Our Florida: A Water Ethic for Florida” by Cynthia Barnett. She is an [...]

House water panel hears differing views on environmental protection

This reservoir in DeSoto County was built with some state water supply funding. Conservation and development of new water supplies must be part of Florida’s future to attract industry and create jobs, panelists on Thursday told the House Select Committee on Water Policy. But there were differing views on how much the environment should be [...]

House panel may reconsider firey water issue

The chairman of the new House Select Committee on Water Policy said Thursday that the state’s “local sources first” policy that discourages water pipelines will be reviewed along with the role of water-management districts. But she also said doing away with districts in favor of a statewide water agency would be “crazy.” One of the [...]

Florida water disputes won’t be focus of new panel, chairman says

The chairman of a new select House committee addressing water issues said Wednesday she expects it to deal more with water quality issues and less with water quantity except for “big picture” issues. On Tuesday, House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, said he is establishing the Select Committee on Water Policy and he named Rep. [...]