TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Defeat Not Likely To Put Stake In Scheme For State Water Czar

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 27, 2008

It's encouraging that delegates to the Florida Water Congress voted down a proposal to establish a state water czar, a position that could have forced regions to ship their water to another part of the state.

But don't be surprised if this polluted idea resurfaces. Developers trot it out every few years, hoping to elude growth restraints by robbing rural counties of their resources.

Five years ago the Council of 100, a leading statewide business group, pushed to create a state water board that could redistribute water where it was needed. After an uproar by rural communities, Gov. Jeb Bush scrapped the plan.

This week the proposal bubbled up again at a two-day water meeting arranged by the Century Commission on a Sustainable Florida and attended by government officials, lawyers, environmental activists and development lobbyists.

Fortunately, the congress had the good sense to quickly say no to the czar. But look for the proposal to return the next time Florida suffers a severe drought and conservation measures require greater sacrifices by homeowners and developers.

The scheme is based on the belief that Central and South Florida's water woes could be resolved if only heavily developed counties could get their pipes into North Florida's rivers, streams and springs.

The approach will only lead to litigation, sprawl and inefficient growth patterns.

Rather than encouraging communities to grow in a sustainable way, a water-redistribution plan would allow them to exhaust local resources and take whatever water was available elsewhere.

Giving a water czar authority over local resources would create a legal nightmare.

The bitter "water wars" that erupted when Pinellas over-pumped groundwater from Hillsborough and Pasco lands would appear mild compared to what would happen if a state official determined that upstate rivers and springs should be tapped for development to the south.

Fear of such an arrangement is what caused the Legislature in 1998 to adopt a "local sources first" measure that requires local governments to develop all reasonable water sources within their boundaries before looking elsewhere. It's a smart law.

Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco solved their water differences not by piping water from the Suwannee River, a solution that had long been promoted, but by establishing a regional water utility charged with developing new sources of water.

Tampa Bay Water has had a few stumbles, but it also has ended harmful overpumping by developing innovative water sources, including a reservoir, a desalination plant and the diversion of river water during flood times.
Conservation measures have helped, too, though the region, like most, could do far more, particularly by discouraging water-demanding lawns in many new developments.

Part of the rationale for tapping undeveloped communities is the belief that this water is being "wasted" because it doesn't flow out of a faucet.

Untapped water not only sustains agricultural operations, it underpins the environmental health of Florida's woodlands and estuaries. The growth of ecotourism would quickly decay if North Florida's waterways were drained to supply the ever-growing demands of urban counties.

It's not that the importing of water should never be considered. It may be appropriate if the donor county is adequately compensated and the resource is carefully protected.

But such an arrangement should be the result of public negotiations among affected parties, not handed down by an unaccountable czar.

The Tampa Bay region has shown that with innovation, cooperation and stewardship, communities can find ways to meet their water needs. They don't need to rely on imported water and, as the Congress delegates wisely recognized, they certainly don't need a water czar.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT