The Suwannee River Water Management District (District) will soon receive a grant of up to $900,000 from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to fund water quality and quantity improvements in the Santa Fe River Basin and associated springs. The District, in coordination with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS) and the Suwannee River Partnership, will use the funding to work with area farmers to prevent more than 1 million pounds of nitrogen annually from entering the river and springs and save 670 million gallons per year of water use.

 

“With the help of DEP and DACS we are pleased to be able to provide these retrofits to growers in the Santa Fe River Basin to achieve water quality and water conservation benefits,” said District Executive Director Ann Shortelle.

 

The funds will be used to retrofit existing irrigation systems to more efficiently distribute water and incorporate the practice of fertigation. Such retrofits will equip irrigation systems to deliver a more uniform and efficient application of water and fertilizer, and they will reduce water use and the potential for nutrients to leach into the water table.

 

“Not only will these efforts reduce nitrogen loading to the Santa Fe River, they will benefit farmers by reducing energy and fertilizer costs,” said Shortelle.

 

In February, DEP culminated more than two years of work with local governments and environmental and agricultural stakeholders to develop and adopt a Basin Management Action Plan, a five-year blueprint for reducing nutrients in the Santa Fe River. During the plan development, restoration partners identified nutrient and irrigation management as the two key categories of agricultural practices that need to be addressed in order to achieve restoration.

 

The District is contributing an additional 20 percent ($180,000) in in-kind services to the retrofit program.