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As Water Shortage Escalates Conservation Is Critical

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 15, 2008

Many Tampa Bay area residents have been living with watering restrictions for more than 12 years, and it's only been a minor inconvenience to people who like to maintain green lawns and landscapes - at least those conservation-minded enough to follow the rules.

But with the region in the midst of a prolonged drought and water shortage, and with the dry season just beginning, the stakes are higher now in the region, which has been impacted more than any other area in the 16-county Southwest Florida Water Management District. The need to conserve water must be turned up a notch.

Late last month, at the request of Tampa Bay Water, the drinking water supplier to most of the region, the district's governing board raised the level of the current water shortage from "severe" to "extreme" for the utility and its six member governments, which include Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

The result is that current watering restrictions, which include once-a-week watering, have been tightened. It limits the more liberal frequency with which new plants and landscaping can be watered, as well as when you can water by hand, and cuts the permitted operating hours of fountains and other aesthetically pleasing water features with recirculation systems.

The moves were necessary because these are troubling times. Rainfall is down - again - considerably. The Hillsborough River reservoir, which provides most of Tampa's water, is near record lows. The Alafia River can't be tapped at present because it is so low.

In addition, the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir is holding only about 5 billion gallons of water, well short of its 15-billion gallon capacity, because of cracks in the facility. The reservoir could be dry by late April or early May if we don't receive sufficient rain.

These are just a few of the reasons why the board had no choice, why residents need to step up personal conservation efforts and why local governments need to crack down even further on residents and business owners who refuse to follow the rules.

This crisis also provides yet another reason why it's important for Tampa Bay Water and the water management district to continue partnering to develop drought-proof sources of drinking water, such as the Apollo Beach desalination plant, which is finally functioning properly.

In fact, at a recent meeting the governing board of Tampa Bay Water embraced for further study potential future water projects that include expanding the desalination plant by 10 million gallons per day, as well as constructing another desal plant, this one along the coast of extreme southwest Pasco County.

Perhaps the only way to truly understand the critical need to conserve water in the Tampa Bay area is to one day open a tap and see come out. It shouldn't have to come to that. Residents and businesses truly need to conserve water and follow the restrictions for the overall health of the region.

Nor should the district's governing board hesitate to ban all nonessential watering during this crisis.

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