Six years ago, state water managers and utilities directors in Central Florida proposed to deal with an anticipated shortage of clean drinking water by tapping the Ocklawaha River.
It was an elaborate plan that involved a new water treatment plant, hundreds of miles of new pipeline, and hundreds of millions of dollars. The idea ignited concern among local environmentalists who worried about the effect of drawing 84 million gallons of water a day from the Ocklawaha, and that the winding waterway would serve as Orlando’s drinking fountain.