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Seeking Middle Ground

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By JOYCE McKENZIE

jmckenzie@tampatrib.com

Published: February 25, 2009

TEMPLE TERRACE - Mayor Joe Affronti considers the Hillsborough River one of the city's greatest assets.

"If we don't fight to preserve it, we're not doing our job," Affronti told council chamber audience members and television viewers during the Feb. 17 city council meeting.

Toward that end, the council unanimously approved a motion to have City Manager Kim Leinbach draft a letter to Southwest Florida Water Management District Executive Director David Moore.

Its purpose was to request that the agency's board of governors postpone its scheduled vote Tuesday to modify some of Swiftmud's existing rules that apply to the middle Hillsborough River, a segment of the river the district defines as the area from the city of Tampa's dam north about 12 miles to the bridge at Fletcher Avenue. It also includes portions of the Harney Canal and Cow House Creek in Temple Terrace.

The suggested clarifications and revisions are the result of Swiftmud's findings during its seven-month study of the middle river, material the agency compiled into a 256-page draft and its representatives outlined at the Feb. 16 meeting of the Temple Terrace River Watch Task Force.

The agency recommends a rule change that identifies what has been commonly called the "City of Tampa Reservoir" to the "middle Hillsborough River."

Because the district study also concluded the middle river water levels are similar to the state's other so-called reservoirs in which water is held for supply purposes and where the rising and falling levels are a reflection of rainfall patterns, Swiftmud also requests that no minimum levels in the middle river be established.

The district plans to adhere to state law that prohibits the establishment of minimum flows for certain bodies of water, including the middle Hillsborough River.

However, in some instances, including the county's recent drought conditions, Moore may order an increase in the middle river's level with water from the Tampa Bypass and Harney canals.

"There is just a lot of information to digest," said task force chairman Ron Smith following the group's Feb. 16 meeting that prompted immediate past chairman Frank Chillura to issue a motion to suspend the vote on the district's recommendations until Swiftmud's March governing board meeting.

Following the task force's approval on the motion, it was task force staff liaison Joe Gross who brought the issue before city councilmen.

"One of our concerns is that the river flow guidelines are going to be even more restrictive than before," Gross said.
Affronti agreed.

"All we are looking for is establishing minimum flow levels in the middle river so we know that in 10 or 15 years from now we'll still have a river."

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849.

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