Allright, so our efforts over the last ten years to prepare for drought times have been, uh, let’s just say “somewhat short of a complete success.”
And once again, we are facing severe water shortages where we are basically demanding everyone just stop watering the grass.
But wait… Haven’t we been under restrictions over the last couple of years? Yes we have:
As of February 24, 2009, the Governing Board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District extended severe water shortage restrictions through June 30, 2009. These restrictions were initially declared January 9, 2007.
Since January of 2007, Swiftmud has asked residents in sixteen counties to conserve water. Local government is supposed to enforce those restrictions. But not all of them are doing so.
For the past seven months, the City of Tampa has issued 949 citations for ignoring water restrictions (379 this year). Hillsborough County wrote 1,873 citations from August 08 to February 09. During that same time period, Pinellas County gave out 543 tickets while Pasco handed out more than 650.
However, Temple Terrace, Plant City, Pinellas Park, and the town of Belleair have only issued warnings. St. Petersburg only wrote 30 tickets. Clearwater hadn’t written a single ticket over the past seven months.
“… the goal is voluntary compliance through education, communication, and cooperation,” says Clearwater City Water official Dan Bates.
But now that we’ve reached a critical point, St. Pete is stepping up enforcement. Likewise, Clearwater and other local governments are beginning to actually write tickets, and are getting tougher.
This is shutting the barn door after the horse is gone.
These rules have been in effect for two years, and enforcement is so lax in some jurisdictions, that some of us must now suffer with even tighter rules.
But only Tampa has banned the use of sprinklers. Other local governments don’t believe that step is necessary. When is Clearwater going to step up to the plate? When is St. Petersburg going to pitch in and help?
“That would be extreme for us right now,” said George Cassady, director of St. Petersburg’s water resources department. “Today, right now, that would be going too far, too fast. We want to see what some of our initiatives will bring us before we do something like that.”
Of course that “would be extreme.” If you only issued 30 tickets over the past seven months, wagging your finger would be “extreme.”
So is Tampa overreacting? Or are the others just whistling past the graveyard?
wifey
11 months ago
This kind of slow reaction from goverment is what got us in the economy mess we are in! We as citizens what it all, top dollar for houses, low interest rates, no taxes and that is a mess now. Now we want green grass, pools, car washes and to take hour long showers all with no rain. Some people will never learn that Gluttony is bad.
junebee
11 months ago
The numerous HOA’s in Hillsborough County need to have some of their powers curtailed, or overridden by the Governor. Ours has just re-emphasized that residents must have their lawns in compliance with HOA rules that mandate full, green lawns. Xeriscaping needs to be encouraged, or other alternatives to a wide, grassy green lawn. Those lawns look great up North but just aren’t feasible here in Florida. I bet if you curtained HOA powers, along with development, the water situation would be just fine.
Anonymous
11 months ago
“Tampa’s Reclaimed Water System Lags Behind Others”
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/26/tampas-reclaimed-water-system-lags-behind-others/news-breaking/
Patsy
11 months ago
Why is it those of us who follow the rules have to pay for those who don’t. I feel this City came on to strong, and if they are going to take everything away from us, give us something in return like reclaimed water. This city council let development after development continue without thought to water or any other damn thing that comes with excessive growth and so as usual they slap us with drastic measures. The do gooders can say yay all they want, but many South Tampans have lots of money tied up in yards that are already dying….so to the City I say Bring on the Reclaimed Water, oh yes, we’ll pay as usual.
Misc
11 months ago
From the Tribune article below:
“The city leans on the Hillsborough River for its water, capturing the flow in a reservoir about 10 miles from the river’s mouth.”
The so-called reservoir alluded to here is the middle Hillsborough River that is above the dam. Tampa and SWFWMD calls it a reservoir, Temple Terrace calls it the middle river The reservoir label is used to attempt to avoid enviromental consequences so the middle river can be sucked dry each year to provide water. Over half of that water is used for watering lawns!!!!
“Water Sources Slow The Flow For Tampa”
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/28/water-sources-slow-flow-tampa/#comments