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Ready to cut back?

Conserve now or new watering rules will be mandatory. That's the message the county is sending to rural and suburban residents.

By BILL VARIAN
Published May 4, 2006

TAMPA - Hillsborough commissioners on Wednesday took the first step toward imposing once-a-week watering limits on rural and suburban property owners, as the Tampa Bay region experiences unprecedented demand for this time of year.

For now, Hillsborough county residents who live outside Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City can still water their lawns twice a week on designated days, depending on their address number, but commissioners are asking them to cut back voluntarily.

And they have reserved time for a public hearing at their May 17 meeting to consider making the restriction mandatory if the voluntary measure doesn't slow the flow.

"Citizens need to conserve," said Commissioner Kathy Castor. "It is very dry. There is no significant rain on the horizon."

The Tampa City Council is expected to vote today on an emergency ordinance that would put the one-day-a-week limit into effect immediately.

Most other governments in the region are opting to stay put, while some, like Pinellas County and Brooksville, have already made once-a-week watering a way of life.

Temple Terrace and Plant City currently allow watering twice a week.

With most of Florida considered to be one step removed from a drought, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department, property owners are running their sprinkler systems on overdrive. While county water officials say they have been able to keep up with demand - so far - they are having to run their pumps and filtering plants at full strength. That's particularly true on peak days, like Sundays, or early on weekdays as people take their morning showers.

"It's just like your car or my car," said county water resources director Paul Vanderploog. "If you run it at red line long enough, after awhile something's going to give out."

And that would be really bad. An equipment failure could shut down the water supply to large expanses of the county.

As it is, when the system is running at full capacity it can result in low pressure throughout that can cause such things as fire hydrants to flow at a trickle. Weak pressure can also allow contaminants into the supply, making it necessary for people to boil water before drinking it.

Commissioners are also asking residents in the sprawling east county subdivisions of FishHawk Ranch and Twin Lakes to voluntarily curb their use of reclaimed water because even it is in short supply. Currently, residents can use reclaimed water for irrigation every day. Under the request, residents with odd numbered addresses are asked to water on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and those and even-numbered addresses are asked to water on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Commissioners have been loath to make restrictions on reclaimed water mandatory because developers were encouraged to install the lines on the promise that they wouldn't be subjected to limits.

If the Tampa City Council approves restrictions today, a once-a-week limit would go into effect immediately inside the city. Reclaimed water use would still be allowed daily.

Residents in unincorporated parts of Hernando County and in St. Petersburg may still water lawns twice a week, and officials there are not planning to change that in the immediate future. But St. Petersburg has asked residents to voluntary cut back on reclaimed water use to three times weekly, and is considering making that mandatory.

"If the dry weather continues, that's really a possibility," said Patty Anderson, St. Petersburg's director of water resources.

Watering is allowed two days a week in Citrus County, with the schedule and time determined by address.

It's been a dry spring so far. Only a trace of water fell in Tampa during March, and April saw just over 1 inch, according to the National Weather Service in Ruskin. The average rainfall for March is 6.3 inches, and 5.5 inches for April.

But local officials say a few wet years have left the underground aquifer with a good supply of water.

"We've had a couple of years of good rainfall, and that's kept those water levels up," said Michael Molligan of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the agency in charge of safeguarding the region's water supply.

But water levels for rivers, including the Hillsborough River, have been low in recent months. A reservoir along the river provides much of Tampa's drinking water.

The dry rivers, coupled with growth in Hillsborough and Pasco counties, have led to fears about water supplies, said Michelle Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Tampa Bay Water Authority, which provides much of the drinking water to Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

Meanwhile, demand is up. Overall, residents in the three-county area have are using an average of 315-million gallons daily, up from 249-million in January.

Thanks to growth, some areas are showing particularly thirsty trends. In south central Hillsborough, demand is exceeding projections by 32 percent. Ditto in Pasco.

Tampa, which has its own water supply, is having to borrow an average of 12-million gallons daily from Tampa Bay Water.

For now, water officials ask residents to conserve water wherever possible.

Take shorter showers. Don't run water while brushing teeth or shaving. Raise your mower's blade to the highest level. Wait until the rainy season to plant annuals. Check your sprinkler to make sure it's aimed at the lawn, not the street.

"We certainly would ask people to pay extra close attention to their water," Molligan said. "We hope that people will follow the watering restrictions in their communities."

Staff writers Janet Zink, Abbie Van Sickle, Asjylyn Loder, Jim Ross and Waveney Ann Moore contributed to this report.

[Last modified May 4, 2006, 03:50:03]