During a crowded and heated meeting Wednesday, Weeki Wachee residents demanded from Port Authority officials some long-overdue action on dredging and maintaining the Weeki Wachee River.

  • Residents say safety issues result from lack of maintainance
  • Safety issues have gotten progressively worse over time, they say
  • Port Authority officials proposed a long-term solution

In a meeting room so packed that everyone had to be moved outside, residents spoke out.

“The river needs to be maintained. The canals need to be maintained. We’re just people and taxpayers,” one man yelled out.
 
“You represent us! Why aren’t you doing that?” said another.

“Businesses opening on and off the river introduce thousands of people into and onto the rivers everyday,” Shannon Turbeville said.
 
Turbeville and another resident took our crew out on a boat before the meeting to show us what all the fuss is about.
 
“I have witnessed many safety issues regarding boats, bathers and kayaks," said Turbeville, "and it seems like a lot of these issues are resulting from lack of maintenance on the waterway.”
 
He says the Weeki Wachee River needs dredging, and so do the canals that dump into it.
 
“This issue has gotten worse over time,” Turbeville said. “Our canal here was dredged about 7 years ago, and it’s to the point now where you can’t even tell that it was dredged.”
 
Port Authority officials proposed a solution to the problem but warn it could take years for them to see any results.
 
“I would like to make a motion that the board propose a letter to the county requesting them to pass on to the state a request to have the river investigated and perhaps do a survey, a study so that we can get the river dredged," said one Port Authority member. "That’s the first step, getting a study done.”
 
Some residents do not think that’s good enough. One member of the group proposed they go straight to the governor's office to get results. Others said they’re in it for the long haul and will do whatever it takes to be able to move freely through their neighborhood waterways.