EDITORIAL: Time to Conserve: Watering Limit a Reminder, Not Crisis

By The Bradenton Herald, Fla.

Jan. 9–An overwhelming sense of deja vu was produced by news Monday that the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) finds the Tampa Bay area is in a severe drought and plans to order curtailment of outdoor watering.

Anyone who has lived in Manatee County for seven or more years has been through this drill before. Those who have been here since the late ’80s will find it even more familiar. There have been two big droughts in the last 17 years, both centered around the turn of the decade and both eventually broken when normal weather patterns resumed with a wet rainy season. In June 2000, however, it was so dry that local officials estimated the county’s two main sources of fresh water, Lake Manatee and Evers Reservoir, were down to a 60-day supply. Wildfires were a major threat throughout central and southwest Florida, and some people were saving kitchen sink and bathtub water to keep prize landscaping specimens alive.

The situation is not quite that dire yet. Indeed, showers at midday Monday seemed to belie the SWFWMD drought alert. But the rainfall was brief and scattered, doing little to fill reservoirs or raise water tables. And the dry season is young — there are still five months until the official start of the rainy season in June. With winter rainfall already 11 to 15 inches below normal in the 16-county district, prospects for the next few months are not good. SWFWMD officials said rainfall would have to be 140 percent above normal for the district to catch up to where it should be by the beginning of the rainy season.

So for Manatee County and all Tampa Bay-area residents, the message ought to be obvious: Conserve! And that effort should go way beyond SWFWMD’s once-a-week limit on lawn watering. Each of us must make a commitment to conserve water in our everyday lives. If hand-washing dishes, use a sinkful of water rather than under a running faucet. Don’t machine-wash clothes or dishes until you have a full load. Take quick showers or fill the tub only half-full. Fix leaky faucets and capture air conditioner drips to water house plants. When planting, consult xeriscape plans to choose only native, drought-tolerant plants. Flush toilets less often.

And of course, residents must exercise extreme caution with fire. A burning cigarette butt casually tossed along the roadside could easily start a blaze that could quickly turn into an inferno. Sparks from a backyard barbecue could set trees and bushes afire. Faulty wiring could start a house fire that could quickly consume a neighborhood.

The SWFWMD drought alert will inevitably bring recriminatory responses from some residents who blame growth for the current water shortage. Stop issuing building permits that will bring more people here if the water supply is running out, they will say.

But a building moratorium is not an appropriate response. First, we know from recent experience that the shortage is likely to be temporary. Indeed, some meteorologists believe a strong El Nino weather pattern now in effect could bring a wetter-than-normal winter — a forecast with which SWFWMD obviously doesn’t agree.

A truism often cited in dry periods like the current one bears repeating now: An area that averages more than 50 inches of rainfall a year doesn’t have a water shortage problem; it has a water storage problem.

Manatee County officials have planned for greater water demands created by growth, so we don’t have to worry about running out of water. The county’s long-range plan calls for two or more additional reservoirs, expanding Lake Manatee’s capacity and, eventually, building desalination plants to turn seawater into fresh.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be occasional shortages — such as now — that call for everyone to conserve in order to avoid a crisis. If everyone cooperates we can get through this temporary dry period without major hardships or panic. And if the upcoming hurricane season forecast bears out, Florida will be getting more rain than it wants before the year is out.

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, The Bradenton Herald, Fla.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.