Hydro-Environmental Associates, Inc. (HEA) was selected by the Florida Strawberry Growers Association, Inc., to conduct a regional analysis of the potentiometric surface of the upper Floridan aquifer (UFA) of the Dover/Plant City strawberry growing area.  The purpose of the study was to determine long-term trends in water levels of the UFA and identify the main sources of groundwater use in the study area.  The Southwest Florida Water Management District recently designated the Dover/Plant City area as a Water Use Caution Area (WUCA) and established a minimum flow and level for the area.  The establishment of a WUCA is based on the assumption that there is a long-term decline in the potentiometric surface of the UFA.

HEA evaluated the data from numerous monitoring wells in and around the Dover/Plant City area, and conducted a trend analysis on several wells with long-term daily records.  HEA also reviewed historic semi-annual potentiometric surface maps of the SWFWMD area, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey dating as far back as May 1976.

Based on the results of this study, it was determined that there has actually been an increasing trend in the potentiometric surface of the UFA during the last decade, and water levels have risen up to 30 feet in the area over the last 30 years.  The main cause of the water level increases appeared to be the result of an overall shift of the central Florida phosphate industry and associated groundwater withdrawals toward the south and east of the study area.