The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board today approved a project to reduce groundwater pumping up to 197,000 gallons per day (gpd) at a Charlotte County citrus and cattle company.
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 Diner Citrus & Cattle Company and OSS, LLC, is located upstream from the City of Punta Gorda’s drinking water reservoir. The existing water use permit authorizes an annual average groundwater withdrawal of 393,400 gpd, for the irrigation of sod, pasture and melons.
The primary goal of the project is to reduce Upper Floridan groundwater withdrawal through the use of an existing 40-acre surface water reservoir to irrigate 140 acres of sod. The project design consists of one surface water pump station, filtration, piping and infrastructure necessary to connect the reservoir to the sod production area. The grower is furthering water conservation by installing a center pivot system with hanging, low-flow microjets.
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.
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.