Letters to the Editors

Water problem solution may be at the ballot box

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 2, 2001

Re: As water supply dries up, irresponsibility still flows, Dec. 24 guest column

Editor: Some of the information is properly damning of the political establishment that revises the pumping rate to match the demand instead of to match the supply. It's so irresponsible that it seems criminal and someone should be held accountable. I hate to acknowledge that I am going to have to pay higher prices for water, but that is the price I must pay for electing incompetent representatives. So be it. Next time I'll pay more attention and try to do better.

But don't blame my lawn. About half of my lot is under a roof, and the other half is vegetation. Before the house and driveway were here, it was all vegetation, and probably very wet vegetation. I doubt I have increased the total evaporation by reducing the vegetation area. Granted that area now under concrete gave the rain water more surface to seep through to replenish the aquifer. Note that if I use excess water for my lawn, it still seeps into the ground and hence replenishes the aquifer. Yes, people refuse to obey the water conservation rules, probably because the logic (Only about 5 percent of the water is consumed to maintain health) is so ridiculous. I think your readers are smart enough to deduce that adding more homes, paving more shopping center parking lots, more airports, more industry, will require more water.

If we acknowledge we have all the residences and industry the aquifer can support, instead of pointing the finger at my lawn we will be closer to identifying the problem. Then if we can hold out until the next election, we may have a chance to solve the problem.
-- R.H. Proctor, Port Richey

Are commissioners truly unaware of water waste?

Editor: I, as a resident of Pasco County, am well aware of the water shortage in our area,but I don't think the county commissioners are. If they are, why have they not put a moratorium on new home construction? Where are the hundreds of new families going to get their water from?

On Collier Parkway, between State Road 54 and Parkway Boulevard there is a new huge development going in, called Plantation Golf and Country Club. During the summer when homeowners were not allowed to water after 9 or 10 a.m. nor before 4 p.m., this developer spewed tens of thousands of gallons of water all day, five or six days a week.

I called the county commissioners' office to complain and was referred to Swiftmud. I called Swiftmud, stated my complaint and was told this disgraceful waste of water would be stopped immediately. Naive as I was, I believed them. But, alas, nothing was done and the water continued to pour unabated.

No community needs a golf course (with 400 or so homes surrounding it) that needs water every day, as opposed to existing communities needing water for cooking, bathing, etc.

It seems to me the commissioners do not care about anything but adding to the tax base. It's as if they feel once a house has been constructed it's on the tax rolls and no matter how irate the homeowner may be they have to pay taxes.

I recycle every drop of water I can. When I take a shower, I wet myself down, then turn off the water until I have finished washing. I recycle my cooking water for my house plants, my dishwasher and washing machine are filled before using and my lawn is being threatened for lack of water. Yet, 1 mile away a developer pours thousands of gallons of water into the ground for a golf course. Can anyone of the county commissioners justify that?

I, for one, will seek justice at the polls. I will vote to unseat any current officeholder, Democrat or Republican and I hope my fellow homeowners will do the same.
-- Mary Moeser, Land O'Lakes

Fasano, Feeney and GOP are an intolerant bunch

Re: Florida House sets good example, Dec. 20 letter:

Editor: I feel compelled to comment on the letter from Mike Fasano, state representative District 45, majority leader. Mr. Fasano announces that he is looking forward to our nation coming together to improve America. He mentions the professionalism demonstrated by the House of Representatives and has the gall to suggest that other state legislatures, and indeed the Congress, should follow the example set in Florida.

These expressions come from the man who led the Florida House of Representatives into a premature vote to name electors for George W. Bush before the Supreme Court of the United States could rule on the matter. Fortunately, the Florida Senate had the good sense to avoid rushing to judgment, and delayed any vote until the U.S. Supreme Court had the opportunity to put finality to the election issue. Mr. Fasano's conduct, and that of his fellow Republican representatives, was brazen, extremely partisan, and calculated to further divide the state of Florida and the country.

If any of them had given the slightest consideration to what was best for the state of Florida or the country, they would have done what the Senate did and that is to stay on the sideline and wait for the decision of the highest court in the land. Of course, Rep. Fasano was too busy appearing on television and expressing his partisan views with no thought whatever of what the voters of the state of Florida thought, or how they voted.

Finally, Mr. Fasano extols the virtue of speaker Tom Feeney's leadership. You will recall that Tom Feeney is the gentleman who admitted calling Vice President Al Gore a loser, and referred to his concession speech as evil. He later explained that he was only joking. Mr. Feeney was not joking when he made those comments, he simply got caught by the unexpected presence of a newspaper reporter. Mr. Feeney's subsequent declaration that Gore's concession speech was good and a positive step toward healing the country was simply packaged to appease the public. Feeney's comments that weren't packaged for the public show his meanspirited mind-set, and the caliber of his so-called leadership.

Both Fasano and Feeney seem to believe that the general public is stupid and that we will believe any garbage they care to feed us. I have been a registered Republican since Barry Goldwater ran for president the first time and I can say unequivocally that I am disgusted with the leadership of the Republican Party, particularly in the state of Florida, but nationally as well. The Republican leadership has lost track of what is good for the people of the state of Florida and the nation and is only interested in partisan politics and propagating its own political causes. I, for one, am disgusted with the Republican Party and its intolerance of the views of others.
-- A.P. Gibbs, Dade City

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