"But What About Our Lakes?" The Fear That Doesn't Hold Water
One of the most effective scare tactics in the Rodman Dam debate goes something like this: "If you breach that dam, you'll drain all the lakes in the area. People's wells will dry up. It'll be an environmental disaster."
"But What About Our Lakes?" The Fear That Doesn't Hold Water
One of the most effective scare tactics in the Rodman Dam debate goes something like this: "If you breach that dam, you'll drain all the lakes in the area. People's wells will dry up. It'll be an environmental disaster."
It sounds terrifying. It's also not how any of this works.
The Myth
Remove Rodman Dam, and you'll somehow suck the water out of surrounding lakes, lower the aquifer, and leave wells across the region running dry. The dam, in this telling, is a critical piece of regional water infrastructure holding everything together.
The Reality
Rodman Dam was never designed for flood control or water level management. It was built for one purpose: to create a navigation pool for the Cross-Florida Barge Canal—a project that was abandoned decades ago.
The dam doesn't regulate basin-wide water levels. It doesn't control the aquifer. It simply impounds a stretch of the Ocklawaha River to create an artificial reservoir. That's it.
Where the Water Actually Comes From
Here's the key most people miss: the lakes in this region—the Harris Chain, the spring-fed lakes throughout Marion and Putnam counties—aren't fed by Rodman Reservoir. They're fed by the Floridan Aquifer.
These lakes get their water from underground. Springs bubble up. Rain percolates down. The aquifer maintains pressure. Rodman Dam has nothing to do with it.
The upper Ocklawaha chain? That's controlled by the Moss Bluff Dam, not Rodman. Silver Springs? Fed directly by the aquifer at a rate of hundreds of millions of gallons per day. None of these water bodies depend on an artificial impoundment 20+ miles downstream.
We've Already Tested This—Repeatedly
Here's the thing: we don't have to guess what happens when Rodman's water level drops. The reservoir is drawn down 7–9 feet every few years to control invasive aquatic weeds. It's essentially a trial run for permanent restoration.
What do the St. Johns River Water Management District's studies show?
- Wells close to the reservoir: Minor, localized groundwater changes
- Wells farther away: Virtually no impact
- Nearby lake levels: No significant declines observed
The SJRWMD technical fact sheet (SJ2017-FS2) documented all of this. The drawdowns happen. The lakes stay full. The wells keep pumping. Life goes on.
The Dam Actually Drowns Springs
Here's an irony the "save our water" crowd doesn't mention: Rodman Reservoir is currently drowning approximately 20 natural springs along the Ocklawaha's course.
These springs still flow—they're just buried under the reservoir's artificial water level. Remove the dam, and that spring water doesn't disappear. It flows into the restored river channel instead, joining the Ocklawaha on its way to the St. Johns.
You're not losing water. You're letting it flow where it naturally belongs.
What Would Actually Change
Let's be clear about what breaching the dam would do:
Would change:
- Rodman Reservoir itself drains (that's the point)
- The Ocklawaha returns to its natural banks
- Adjacent floodplain swamps begin recovering
- Drowned springs resurface and flow freely
Would NOT change:
- Water levels in spring-fed lakes throughout the region
- Aquifer pressure (it's fed by rainfall across a massive recharge area)
- Well water levels beyond minor, localized fluctuations
- Silver Springs output (it's been flowing for thousands of years)
The Bottom Line
The "it'll drain our lakes" argument plays on a fundamental misunderstanding of where water comes from in Florida. This isn't a bathtub where pulling one plug empties everything.
The regional lakes are spring-fed. The aquifer maintains its own pressure. The dam was built for a canal, not water management. And we have years of drawdown data proving that lowering Rodman's pool doesn't affect surrounding water bodies.
Rodman Dam isn't holding Florida's water supply together. It's holding back a river.
Sources: St. Johns River Water Management District Technical Fact Sheet SJ2017-FS2; SJRWMD Drawdown Studies; Florida Phoenix; Reunite the Rivers