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Officials worry about drinking water supplies
By SUZETTE PORTER
| Article published on Monday, Jan. 12, 2009 |
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| Officials are concerned about local drinking water supplies. |
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PINELLAS COUNTY - Three years of drought coupled with problems at the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir has officials worried.
Robin Felix, media relations manager for Southwest Florida Water Management District, said the biggest concern was for Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, which are the most impacted in the district’s 16-county area.
Latest estimates from Tampa Bay Water, which supplies drinking water to Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough plus the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and New Port Richey, show that the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir will be dry by March - two months sooner than earlier predictions.
Due to issues with cracking in the soil cement layer, Tampa Bay Water has tried to maintain only 6 billions of water in the reservoir, 40 percent of the 15 billion gallons capacity, Felix said.
Lack of rainfall coupled with increasing demand for water has drawn the reservoir down to less than 2 billion gallons.
“Normally, Tampa Bay Water would be able to resupply the reservoir with rain water and water from the Alafia River and Hillsborough River,” Felix said. “But both rivers are very low due to the continuing drought.”
Rainfall totals over the past three years are 28 inches below normal for the region, Felix said. That equals about half of a year’s rain.
Also, this year’s rainy season, which is normally June through September, ended in August - about a month early, she said.
“We didn’t get a much rain as we were hoping to get,” Felix said. “All our water sources are suffering.”
National indicators predict a dryer than normal winter and spring, she said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s season outlook for Dec. 21, 2008 - March 2009 predicts that the drought in the Tampa Bay area will persist or intensify.
Felix said if the water woes continue as expected, by spring it most likely will become necessary to begin pumping from the regions recovering groundwater supplies, which is bad news for the environment.
Officials have been working for years to correct problems caused by past over-pumping of ground water supplies. She said just two weeks ago, officials had reached the goal of reducing the pumping of ground water from 150 million gallons a day to only 90 million gallons a day.
“However, it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to sustain that goal unless everyone really begins to conserve water,” she said.
Increased use of ground water can dry up wetland areas, lower lake levels and an increase the risk of salt water intrusion into the aquifer. Felix said. Once salt water enters an aquifer, that source of drinking water is lost forever.
It’s imperative that people continue to conserve water and increase water conservation habits, Felix said.
To help encourage conservation, SWFWMD’s governing board has put a number of restrictions into place, including continuing one-day-per-week watering through Feb. 27; restricting hand-watering and micro-irrigation for non-lawn landscaping to before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m. (the same hours that lawn watering is allowed); reducing the hours that fountains and waterfalls can run from eight hours to only four hours a day; plus new rules for putting in new lawns.
But officials are worried the restrictions may not be enough.
“SWFWMD’s governing board is asking residents and business owners to do their part by following the tightened one-day-per-week watering restrictions and by conserving water whenever possible both indoors and outdoors,” said Neil Combee, board chair. “The district appreciates everyone’s efforts over the last two years to conserve water during the drought. However we must be vigilant and continue working together to protect Tampa Bay’s fragile water resources and natural environment.”
Correction: Corrected "150 gallons a day to only 90 gallons" to "150 million gallons a day to only 90 million gallons".
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Article published on Monday, Jan. 12, 2009
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