Letters to the Editors

Water shortage deserves to be taken seriously

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 12, 2000

I went for a walk around noon last Saturday and was dismayed to see two of my neighbors watering their nice, green lawns. A few hours later, several were washing their cars. It seems they either don't know or, more likely, don't care that our area is experiencing a serious drought.

I urge everyone to wake up and take personal responsibility for conserving our most precious resource, and I urge our elected leaders, especially the Pinellas County Commission, to stop issuing building permits because we simply do not have the water for existing residents.

For once, let's exercise reason and intelligence over apathy and greed.
-- Sarah J. Robinson, Safety Harbor

Why add more homes?

Re: 15,000-home proposal given nod, May 9.

I have lived in this area for 17 years and in the Miami area for 35 years. I do not ever recall a year going by when there was not a water shortage and there weren't limits on watering your lawn, washing your car and all that stuff.

I also don't believe a year has gone by when I didn't hear from our officials that we must and are going to do something about the serious shortage of water.

Now in the Times, I read that 15,000 homes are going to be built somewhere around U.S. 41 and State Road 52.

Can someone please explain to me the wisdom in keeping on building homes in this area, when people are "mowing the lakes" in Pasco County. It makes a person wonder who is steering this ship. I just can't understand their reasoning. Maybe someone can help me understand.
-- Russ Miles, Hudson

Control agricultural watering

We are exhorted to save water due to the drought and low water table, but agricultural wells pump unmetered water day and night.

Irrigation water is pumped with the objective of maximizing crop profits with little regard for aquifer draw-down and with little or no metering, monitoring or enforcement. For example, a 200-acre grove near me has a Swiftmud permit allowing pumping of up to 8,640,000 gallons per day, up to 35-million gallons per month and up to 100-million gallons per year. There is no metering or monitoring of the water usage. Pumps run day and night. Broken irrigation distribution lines are common, wasting large amounts of water. The pumped amount at the present time is twice that of the overpumped Crossbar well field, per acre.

Alternatives exist to the unlimited use of well water for agricultural irrigation. For example, retention ponds and treated wastewater could be used. Water could be distributed underground at the plants to minimize evaporation losses. Crops that require lots of water could be eliminated. Water is far too cheap, with large loopholes for agricultural use.

Agricultural companies should have to account for the water they use and pay for it the same as residences. Wells should be metered, with water rates going up with volume. The income could be used to finance better water monitoring and enforcement, to test water quality, encourage alternative water sources, provide a fund to compensate citizens for well damage and to establish a procedure for independent investigation of problems and disputes. All well water should be periodically tested for calcium, suspended solids, hydrogen sulfide, pesticides, bacteria, color, taste and radioactivity. This is not now done.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District, commonly known as Swiftmud, has been negligent in other respects. It issues agricultural pumping permits good for 10 years, much too long a time due to changes in the aquifer, build-up of homes in the area, changes in the crops, etc. Swiftmud does not even require agricultural metering except for very large pumps. Swiftmud does not monitor or regulate deep well injection of sewage effluent, a potential hazard to the water supply. Even though Swiftmud has the general responsibility for water quality, it accepts no regulatory role in deep well injection, passing it off to the Department of Environmental Regulation, which is silent on the issue.

We need controls on irrigation, and a better response from Swiftmud with its $200-million (!) annual budget.
-- R.W. Lowrie, P.E., Dade City

This is an emergency

With the devastating drought of 2000 continuing into May, I have to wonder why Gov. Jeb Bush hasn't declared a state of emergency.

Dry underbrush can cause a firestorm with just one person striking a match or ridding themselves of a lit cigarette. Water sources are drying up faster than Legislature 2000 churned out careless laws.

Florida would be in a state of emergency with any governor concerned with the well being of all his citizens not just those who supported him heavily with campaign contributions.

You can't change the weather, but you certainly can keep the state on high alert for the dangers of an ultra-dry Florida.
-- John Fontana, Palm Harbor

Multiple desalination plants needed

Well, we are now down to once-a-week watering, and things might get even worse. When, oh when, will we finally come to terms with the reality that we need not one but five desalination plants (one in each of the counties of Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus (to name only a few).

With the continuing growth of these and numerous other west coast counties, things will soon get worse. While we invite commercial businesses as well as private homes, condominiums, huge hotels, etc. to settle here, water is getting more and more scarce. Many of us moved to the west coast to avoid the congestion experienced elsewhere in the state and now find out that we have an insufficient supply of water.

Many other countries have become dependent upon desalination plants. It is also used on cruise ships. Why are we procrastinating to the point where we will soon see our beautiful homes and businesses with dead lawns?
-- Robert Vollmer, Spring Hill

No privacy on submarines

I have just read the article concerning women serving on submarines (Let Navy women serve on submarines, panel advises, May 5). The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services has decided that there is no reason the U.S. Navy cannot allow women to serve in submarine crews. The rationale is that "the Navy's historical experience and commitment to the utilization of women on other (vessels) provides a model for change." The reasoning is that since you can provide privacy on a large bus, you can provide the same privacy in a Mazda Miata.

The committee's comments appear to be from people who have never ventured into a submarine to see how close the quarters are. On both submarines I served on, the enlisted crew space was a single space. True, it was divided into two levels but with only one passageway that runs the length of the boat, you had to enter the upper level to reach the one below it. So which sex will it be that has members of the opposite sex walking through their area?

In both vessels, the enlisted showers consisted of a single small area with a sink, flanked by two shower stalls. In a situation like this, there is no room for privacy while showering. Nor is the shower area within the same compartment that the bunks are. You have to walk a short distance in the main corridor to reach it. Does the committee suggest making one stall for the small number of women and the other stall for the larger male crew? If women want equality, that means equal in all things.

In conclusion, I am reminded of a submarine song that goes, "Have you ever heard of a secret kept in a submarine? Because if you use the bathroom, the whole boat feels the vacuum." This is an exaggeration but there really is not any chance of privacy on submarines, and the crews understand this. If women are willing to be part of the normal crew -- and serve under the same conditions that men already do -- then bring them on. If they want special accommodations, let them serve elsewhere.
-- Bob Bost, Gulfport

McCain deserves understanding

Re: John McCain's whining, letter, May 6.

After reading this letter I thought the proper thing to do was respond in Sen. John McCain's behalf. I am quite sure that the letter writer has little background on the rules of war. True, we did inflict hardships on the people of Vietnam. If the shoe was on the other foot and we were the ones being bombed, the pilot would have been taken to a POW camp. Do you know anything about a POW camp? Believe me if a Vietnamese pilot had been interned in an American POW camp he would have been living better than he had before capture.

Sen. McCain has stated that he holds no ill feelings toward the Vietnamese people. But he still has not forgiven nor can he forgive the guards who inflicted the pain and misery at the Hanoi Hilton or any other POW camp where Americans were being imprisoned.

When Sen. McCain was shot down, he had two broken arms and a broken leg. He was held in solitary confinement for two years. He was a prisoner for six years, and other POWs were held even longer. When his captors learned that his father was an admiral, they offered to free him. He refused.

I was a POW for almost three three years and in my small way can understand what the senator is saying.

I believe that if we had more men in government like Sen. McCain, other countries wouldn't be dumping all over this nation. I hope that someday I will meet the senator and be able to shake his hand.

If you have never walked in the other man's shoes, you have no idea where he has been.
-- Bill Allen, Tierra Verde

The realities of POW abuse

It is not my intention to offer a political slant to the benefit of John McCain. I am most critical of the May 6 letter John McCain's whining.

Every war has been won or lost in the field, on the sea or in the air, not by reducing the life of a prisoner of war to that of the lowest form of life. Even wild animals have been treated better. A POW camp in the wrong hands offers the prison guards an opportunity for unrestricted fun and games.

I suggest that the letter writer read Accused American War Criminal by Fiske Hanley II, published by Eakin Press of Austin, Texas. Hanley is one of few surviving B-29 crew members who was fortunate to last out the life dealt to him in a downtown Tokyo prison in World War II. He was shot down in March 1945 and barely hung on until the war ended in September.

Embarrassing, as stated by the writer. I should think he would be the embarrassed one for writing such a letter. He should have directed his criticism to Lyndon Johnson and his crew -- the real culprits.
-- Harold W. Fairweather, New Port Richey

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