Amendments to an otherwise good bill will have the effect of blocking public participation in decisions about the biggest water use permits. The amendments take the citizen appointees on the governing boards of Florida’s five water management districts out of the role of reviewing permits for consumptive uses of water and for wetland and stormwater impacts.

If the bill becomes law the public is blocked from even the biggest decisions about who gets water, how much and from where. Those decisions, rather than being made in bright light of Florida’s "sunshine law" requirements, will be made in backroom deals between agency staff and the developers, farmers and utilities and water bottlers applying for the permits.

Florida’s water is a public resource and can only be taken by permit. Historically permits are reviewed by governing boards – citizens representing geographic areas and diverse interests – meeting in noticed meetings where ordinary people can participate.

People do comment on permits:

·   Last month hundreds of people showed up to object to water being taken from Yankee Lake, part of the St. Johns River, to feed urban growth in Orlando.

·   Everglades restoration depends on reducing the quantity of water taken from the environment.

·   Tampa Bay solved its regional water conflicts and issued permits in open meetings.

Senate Bill 2080 started out as a noncontroversial bill. It would have added some useful provisions including a "Florida Friendly" landscaping. Unfortunately, at the end of the session, the amendment eliminating public comment to the water management district on any water resource permit proposed

Now SB 2080 delegates all permit approvals to staff and removes those decisions from the board agendas where environmental groups like Audubon have the right to comment. Only permit applicants including developers and utilities will have the right to get a hearing before the board, in the event permits are proposed by the staff of a district to be denied. The citizen appointees on the board are actually prohibited from intervening on behalf of citizens or environmental groups concerned about a permit application.

Water management district governing boards have the ability to levy ad-valorem taxes on your home or business, but now the public won’t even be able to ask those same boards to protect the environment when a specific permit is in front of them.