Poe Springs Has Stopped Flowing. It Is Time for Phase III.

Immediate Request for Phase III Water Restrictions to Protect Our Springs and Aquifer

Dear Chair Johns and Members of the Suwannee River Water Management District Governing Board: Poe Springs, one of our region’s Outstanding Florida Springs, has reportedly stopped flowing after months of severe decline. Its loss of flow is an unmistakable warning that the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee system is under extraordinary stress. Despite the Modified Phase II Water Shortage Order enacted in April 2026, conditions have continued to deteriorate: Upper Floridan aquifer levels across the southern District are extremely low—below the 10th percentile in many areas. The Districtwide rainfall deficit for the 12 months ending June 30 reached 18.69 inches. Portions of the Santa Fe River have remained near record-low flows. District counties are experiencing Moderate, Severe, or Extreme Drought. Poe Springs declined so severely that it was closed to the public in June and has now reportedly ceased flowing. These conditions demonstrate that Phase II measures have not been sufficient. We respectfully urge the Governing Board to: Immediately declare a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage under Chapter 40B-21, Florida Administrative Code. Require meaningful and equitable reductions across all major water-use sectors, including agricultural, commercial, industrial, institutional, public-supply, and large-scale landscape irrigation users. Require enforceable reductions in permitted groundwater withdrawals by commercial water-bottling operations and other large industrial users in the affected area. Phase III restrictions must address production withdrawals, not merely lawn watering or incidental facility uses. Require bottling plants and other commercial users to employ conservation measures, water-saving equipment, and reclaimed or recycled water wherever feasible. Because the specific reductions depend upon the order adopted by the Board, we ask that commercial bottling withdrawals be addressed explicitly in the Phase III order. Suspend or defer approval of new or expanded consumptive-use permits within the affected area unless the applicant demonstrates that the withdrawal will not worsen existing conditions. Increase monitoring, enforcement, and public reporting, including frequent publication of aquifer levels, spring and river flows, permitted and actual withdrawals, and compliance with required reductions. Evaluate whether adopted Minimum Flows and Minimum Water Levels are being met and strengthen or expedite any necessary recovery or prevention strategy. Initiate evaluation of a water reservation sufficient to protect water needed for fish and wildlife, public health and safety, and the ecological function of the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee system. Drought makes responsible management of human withdrawals more urgent, not less. Families should not be asked to conserve at home while large commercial users continue pumping and exporting our groundwater without meaningful reductions. Poe Springs should not have to disappear before stronger action is taken. Please declare Phase III and adopt enforceable, equitable restrictions—including reductions for commercial water-bottling operations—before more springs stop flowing and lasting ecological harm occurs. Respectfully, Sierra Club Suwannee-St Johns Group Conservation Committee