$2 Mil. Deep Well Plan Frustrates Polk Officials

BARTOW | The search for water to fuel Polk's growth is costing millions of dollars, and Polk County commissioners are increasingly frustrated by the lack of guarantees the investment will yield anything.

The issue arose Wednesday during discussion of a plan to spend $2 million to drill an exploratory well at a private ranch near Lake Walk-in-the-Water to determine whether the lower Floridan aquifer is a viable water source.

This follows a $2 million attempt in Northeast Polk to explore that section of the aquifer. There is little information on where the lower Floridan aquifer contains usable water. Drinking water is typically pulled from the upper Floridan aquifer.

The exploratory well was a requirement of the county's water-use permit.

Polk and other Central Florida counties are required to come up with alternatives to using groundwater by 2013 to reduce the impact of overpumping, which can damage surface waters.

The strategy is to prevent the kind of environmental damage - ranging from dried-up lakes and wetlands to saltwater intrusion - that has resulted from unregulated water withdrawals in the past.

So far, water officials have provided money to help to finance the wells but have not certified them as alternative water supplies - the rules don't allow it because they concluded it was unclear whether the area the county had tapped was not connected to the upper Floridan aquifer.

Commissioner Jack Myers was dissatisfied.

He said he wanted a commitment "before we chase our tail like a crazy dog.''

Gary Fries, capital projects director for Polk County Utilities, said there's a good chance the rules will change after 2012, which would likely allow the county to use the wells.

Deputy County Manager Jim Freeman said commissioners need to look at the bigger picture, which is that it appears increasingly unlikely Polk will be able to tap the Kissimmee River or other surface water to provide future water supplies.

In addition, it's important for county officials to plan where they will get additional water after 2013.

"As an inland county, these types of solutions are what we'll have to rely on,'' he said, referring to the fact that's coastal counties could build desalination plants and are farther downstream along rivers that originate in Polk and other inland counties to tap those rivers.

Nevertheless, Commission Chairman Sam Johnson was frustrated, too.

"It seems like a lot of money for a what if," he said. "I don't like the idea of throwing $2 million a year away.''

County Attorney Michael Craig said the money on the wells does provide some scientific information that can bolster the county's case for using the deep aquifer, but acknowledged the current system is "imperfect.''

Johnson said the problem he has is that not only does Polk County have to spend money on such projects, but every other Florida county has to do something similar.

Craig said the alternative is to spend millions of dollars in court, which produces no water.

[ Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535. ]