Our Work  Our Vision2

The St. Johns Riverkeeper Comprehensive Vision
for the Restoration of the St. Johns River

• Introduction:

  The St. Johns River is the crown jewel of North and Central East Florida. Rural areas, small and large towns all have looked to the St. Johns River for their identity, recreation and economic vitality.
  
  We owe the St. Johns River and our grandchildren a healthy, vibrant river. We pledge to fight for our river's future. That future begins with a vision, clear goals and a call to action. It is time for government, business and citizens to work together on the defining quest for our generation as citizens of this area.
  
  

  The Vision:

  Our vision of the river twenty years from now is as broad as the St. Johns River itself as it approaches Jacksonville.
  
  

  In our vision:

  People are on the river in boats and enjoying the river from its banks, swimming, catching fish in abundance and eating those fish. Shellfish are being harvested as our parents and grandparents did in appropriate areas.
  
  Industry and jobs are based on the quality of life that an abundant river provides and the river is not seen as a free conduit for waste and by products. Commercial and residential development are in harmony with the river, not subduing it and converting productive wetlands into green grass butting up to a vertical concrete edge overlooking a dead zone.
  
  The riparian zone (river's edge) has native trees and plants and widespread submerged aquatic grasses providing prolific nurseries for wildlife in and along the river. Parking lots and other hard surfaced areas utilize porous paving stone, retention areas and other methods to slow down and filter storm water runoff so that the sheet flow of water can soak into the ground instead of wash sediment and pollutants into the river. The surface of the river during the summer does not turn green with out of control algae growth from excessive nutrients.
  
  Our vision is a St. Johns River where the health of the river is measured in prolific stocks of fish, submerged plants and abundant habitat for the life that depends on the river and a community of people that are proud of the health of the St. Johns River.
  
  

The Restoration:

• Point Source:
• A. All wastewater treatment plants are converted to advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) level within 15 years.
  
  The St. Johns River and its tributaries will be a zero discharge zone in 20 years with all permitted discharges phased out through effluent reuse, closed loop and other processes.
• B. Provide tax incentives for building and development that incorporate infrastructure for reuse to help build the critical mass necessary to make reuse a reality. Reuse will ultimately remove the AWT treated effluent from discharging into the river and utilize it for watering golf courses, lawns and other uses, so that drinking water is not wasted watering landscapes.
• C. Require the mandatory inspection of septic tanks every 4 years.
• D. Provide the expansion of sewer lines into all areas with failing septic tanks within 5 years.
• E. There will be no pollution trading, only pollution elimination.
• Non-point Source:
• A. All urban, suburban and roadway runoff is captured and treated prior to reaching the river with zero tolerance for runoff and sedimentation from construction. Increase agency enforcement staffs as necessary and expand hours to cover weekends. Increase fines for non-compliance.
• B. Within 10 years all existing urban storm water drains to the river that do not have room for retention or treatment structures will have mini catchment structures with filtration media so that no urban runoff reaches the river without treatment.
• C. Use tax credits to encourage hardened surfaces (parking lots, drive ways) directly along the river utilize porous pavers to increase rainwater draining into groundwater.
• D. Increase the compliance of agricultural interests utilizing BMP's from the current 50% to 100% within 5 years. Where necessary land will be purchased by government or conservation entities and converted to regional agricultural runoff treatment areas with natural plant life filters within 10 years.
• Aquatic Habitat And Wildlife:
• A. Increase wetland buffers for construction and development from the normal current requirement of 25 feet to a minimum of 75 feet. Natural vegetation along shore and surrounding wetlands decrease storm water runoff and sedimentation, and provide protection and food for animal life. Trees in this buffer provide cover for shallow areas, preventing over heating of important shallow water and wetland areas. The increased buffer will greatly lessen damage that occurs during construction, as in the case of failing protection devices (silt fences, hay bales and other devices) that regularly fail during large rain events.
• B. Increase restrictions on loss of wetlands and the cost of mitigation. At present, permitting authorities allow wetlands to be filled in, as long as other wetlands are protected or created frequently with as low a ratio as three protected acres per wetland acre destroyed. Sometimes high quality productive wetlands are replaced with distant, marginal wetlands.
• C. Increase fines for violations of existing laws and rules. Increase education to the construction industry regarding requirements prohibiting off site run off during construction and the alternatives that are available. Expand the agencies enforcement staff hours to include weekends. Publicize violations and actions taken.
• D. Pursue alternatives to vertical sea walls at the water's edge. There are legitimate needs to protect the shoreline from washing into the river from boat traffic and natural causes. However, less disruptive ways of protecting the shoreline need to be brought to the attention of homeowners, developers and installers of sea walls. This will lessen damage to underwater grass beds and emergent vegetation that provide habitat for reproduction, birds, and other wildlife.
• E. Development like the Freedom Commerce Center in Jacksonville that is sited on 90% wetlands that form the headwaters of two tributaries to the St. Johns River are totally unacceptable to the residents of this area. This is a poster child of what cannot be allowed to happen if the St. Johns River is to ever be restored.
• Nutrients and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL):
• A. Expand the TMDL process to include all pollutants including mercury and sediment.
• B. Expand water testing to all water bodies and include all water bodies on the DEP 303d list unless there is adequate testing to document the need for removal from the list.
• Drinking water:
• A. Develop a very conservative minimum flow limit (MFL) on the St. Johns River and all affected springs.
• B. Explore desalination of seawater in all areas.
• C. Where feasible, capture excess rainwater in holding ponds for drinking water use during dry periods.
• D. Make a firm commitment to the full reuse of effluent for all landscape watering needs.
• E. Study and report on the effects that have already occurred from increased salinity of the river in the lower basin as a result of increasing channel depth and straightening the river. Include the salinity effects of drawing freshwater out of the river for drinking water. Project and report on the effect that increased salinity has and will have on SAV, fish and wildlife health and distribution. Also study and report any possible unintended consequences of any action that will increase the salinity of the river.
• F. Plan an aggressive water conservation campaign that targets household and landscape use.
• G. Only consider the St. Johns River as a source for drinking water after the above programs are in place. Water from the St. Johns River will not be removed for use as drinking water during periods of low water flows and all MFL projections will be the most conservative available.
• Bacteria In Urban Tributaries:
• A. Begin a rain event water sampling program to provide a database to facilitate reconnaissance and to document improvement in both water quality and pollution source reduction. Water quality improvement goals will target high rain events and other worst case scenarios.
• B. Create a Bacteria Task Force to conduct, tributary by tributary, a detailed and widespread "snap shot" sampling program to pinpoint the individual bacteria sources.
• C. Create, fund and complete a customized individual bacteria elimination plan for each tributary. Bacteria levels during high rain periods will consistently meet state standards within 5 years.
• Sedimentation:
• A. Gather all available data on contaminated sediments in the river.
• B. Determine if additional studies need to be performed to determine the extent of the problem.
• C. Prepare an action plan with timetable and funding to address the problem.
• Education:
• A. Introduce a river based science curriculum throughout the school system.
• B. Develop an annual in-depth, science-based scorecard on the condition of the river focusing on habitat and functioning ecosystems as well as water quality.
• C. Schedule a biannual river summit to gather input from citizens, evaluate progress on the plan and then revise the plan where needed based on new information.
• D. Build on the spring river wide cleanup as a celebration of our river.
• E. Develop a marketing campaign to sell this comprehensive plan to the public including a suitable slogan or catch phrase. Possible brainstorming ideas to get people thinking are: Friend of the River, Nothing less than a healthy and vibrant river, Fight for the river, SJR A sense of place, etc.
• A CALL TO ACTION:
• A. All city council, mayoral and congressional candidates will be asked to make a public pledge to support this Comprehensive Restoration Plan.
• B. Developers and builders will be encouraged to voluntarily seek St. Johns Riverkeeper approval of their projects as being "River Friendly Development."
• C. All businesses that profit from the river or are located on the river will be encouraged to donate funds to help the river – and to ensure that their operations reflect the real economics of using this public, but not free, resource.
• D. We are not interested in lowering our vision to that which is legally required, but raising it to nothing less than what is best for the river. That is our measuring stick.
• ULTIMATELY, WE MUST ADDRESS THE REAL ISSUE
  To achieve these goals, we must change the way people think – about rights, about responsibility and about cost. Today, too many people focus on their “rights”, don’t recognize their responsibilities and complain that real solutions cost too much. To change, we must collectively develop an ethic and a consciousness that, in the long run, our individual and community health will mirror that of the river.
• APPENDIX:
• A) Management and Committee Structure
• B) Regulatory Agencies – Structure and Responsibilities
• C) Public Hearings and other vehicles for citizen action
• D) Data sources for key issues
• E) Definitions and acronyms:
• AWT – advanced wastewater treatment.
• BMP – Best Management Practices, a set of guidelines that represent the best technology and procedures currently available.
• Closed loop – the utilization of a waste stream (effluent), cleaning it and reusing it as input back into the process instead of adding outside water.
• DEP – Florida Department of Environmental Protection, issues permits for point source discharges.
• Effluent – the discharge from a point source such as a WTF or industrial discharge.
• Emergent vegetation - plants that grow along the shoreline and emerge above the water as opposed to submerged aquatic vegetation that grows in the water.
• Lower Basin – SJRWMD breaks the river into three basins with the lower basin starting at Welaka North to the rivers mouth.
• MFL – minimum flow level, a calculation of the minimum level of water that can flow through a water body without harming the plants and animals.
• Middle Basin – SJRWMD breaks the river into three basins with the middle basin extending from Lake Harney North to Welaka.
  Non-point Source – all substances entering a river that are not point source. Usually urban and agricultural stormwater runoff.
• Reuse – taking water that has already been used and putting it to another use instead of discharging it as waste. Normally refers to the effluent of a WTF that has been treated to a high standard and using it to water landscapes or golf courses instead of discharging it into the river.
• Riparian – the riverside environment next to a river, riverside vegetation.
• Point Source – substances entering the river from industry or sewage treatment plants, see non-point source.
• SAV – submerged aquatic vegetation, plants that grow in the water.
• SJRWMD – St. Johns River Water Management District, responsible for water planning, consumptive use permits (CUP) and non-point source permits.
• TMDL – Total Maximum Daily Load, a pollution reduction plan that is based on determining the maximum level of pollution that that a water body can assimilate without degradation.
• Upper Basin – SJRWMD breaks the river into three basins with the upper basin extending from the St. Johns River headwaters north to Lake Harney.
• Water Management District or SJRWMD – St. Johns River Water Management District, responsible for water planning, consumptive use permits (CUP) and non-point source permits.
• Watershed – the land area drained by a river or stream.
• WTF or WWTF – wastewater treatment facility.
• 303d List or Impaired Waters List – a list of impaired waters, ie polluted, that DEP is required to list every 2 years and then provide a plan to restore.