The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board today approved a project to reduce groundwater pumping up to 1,076,100 gallons per day (gpd) at a Highlands County citrus grove.
The Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems (FARMS) program is a cost-share reimbursement program that conserves water and protects water quality.
The FARMS project, proposed by Turner Groves Limited Partnership-Hickory Grove, has an existing water use permit that authorizes 4,939,700 gpd for the irrigation of its 3,691-acre citrus grove.
The goal of this project is to reduce Upper Floridan aquifer groundwater withdrawals through the use of an existing in-stream surface water reservoir to irrigate 1,073 acres of the 3,691-acre grove. The project design consists of one surface water pump station, filtration, piping and infrastructure necessary to connect the reservoir into the existing irrigation system.
The FARMS program is jointly funded by state appropriations, the District’s General Fund, the District’s Alafia River, Peace River and Manasota basin boards and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
This FARMS project is pending approval from the Peace River Basin Board at its October 6 meeting.
A total of 3.4 million gallons per day (mgd) of ground water has been conserved through operational FARMS projects. It is anticipated that a total of 8.3 mgd of ground water will be offset once all 26 current Board-approved FARMS projects are operational. The FARMS Program is expected to reduce groundwater pumping by 40 mgd over the next 20 years.