Summary


The District proposes to amend the conditions for issuance of an individual water use permit to include a condition that the proposed use does not withdraw reserved water. The District also proposes to add a requirement to the section on Modification of Permits that reserved water may not be withdrawn. In addition, the proposed amendments to the Basis of Review for Water Use Permit Applications within the South Florida Water Management District set forth the criteria for establishing reasonable assurances that reserved water is not withdrawn upon issuance of a consumptive use permit. The criteria provide for one exception – the withdrawal of water less than 100,000 gallons per day associated with public access/recreational or land management activities. A definition section with key terms has also been included. The proposed amendments set forth eight categories of consumptive uses that do not withdraw reserved water. If a consumptive use does not fall into one of these categories, the applicant must undertake modeling following the specific requirements set forth in the proposed criteria or other similarly acceptable alternative modeling evaluations to demonstrate that reserved water is not being withdrawn. Finally, the criteria provide that reduced or terminated permit impacts that result in increased inflows into the reservation water body may be allocated unless the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District determines that such allocation is inconsistent with the public interest.