CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
Memo Date: August 30, 2024
Agenda Date: September 10, 2024
Prepared By: John A. Walsh, P.E., Utilities Director
Through: John A. Walsh, P.E., Utilities Director
Requested Action:
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Approve Task and Agreement for Process to Issue an Agricultural Use Consumptive Use Permit to East Central Florida Service for the Taylor Creek Reservoir/St. Johns River Water Supply Permitting pursuant to the Taylor Creek Reservoir/St. Johns River (TCR/SJR) Water Supply Agreements with Orange County, Toho Water Authority, Orlando Utilities Commission and East Central Florida Services, Inc. (Water Suppliers). End
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BACKGROUND:
The City of Cocoa has entered into multiple previous agreements with Orange County Utilities, OUC, Toho Water Authority, and East Central Florida Services, Inc. (ECFS) to develop a regional alternative water supply project called the Taylor Creek Reservoir/St Johns River Water Supply Project (TCR Project). The TCR Project involves withdrawing water from the man-made Taylor Creek Reservoir. The Taylor Creek Reservoir is in eastern Orange and Osceola Counties.
ECFS is a private water utility that serves the landholdings of Deseret Ranches of Florida. As part of the TCR Project negotiations, the parties agreed years ago that ECFS could withdrawal a small quantity of water - 2.71 million gallons per day - from the Taylor Creek Reservoir to irrigate crops on a few fields near the reservoir. The parties further agreed that ECFS could seek reoccurring "temporary" consumptive use permits for this quantity of water.
The SJRWMD Governing Board established a new policy providing that the process of constantly renewing temporary consumptive use permits could not be a means to authorize long term water use. The SJRWMD Governing Board directed the parties participating in the TCR Project to develop another way of agreeing to allow ECFS to use this limited quantity of water from the Taylor Creek Reservoir.
To respond to the SJRW...
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