Wells proposed as drought solution

By JAMES THORNER

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 7, 2000

WESLEY CHAPEL -- Faced with droves of neighbors disgusted by the rationing of reclaimed water, Meadow Pointe developer Don Buck suggested drilling wells to supplement Pasco County's overstressed irrigation system.

Buck said he will ask Pasco County to hook at least one neighborhood well into the pipeline carrying reclaimed water to a large percentage of the 3,500 homes in Meadow Pointe.

"That's how you solve the problem. You have to put a well in," Buck announced Tuesday at a meeting of Meadow Pointe's Community Development District.

The drought has forced Pasco to limit lawn sprinkling in the nine central Pasco neighborhoods using reclaimed water to three days a week, four hours a day.

Neighbors complain their flat $6 monthly fee included a guarantee of unlimited consumption of the water, the decontaminated, nutrient-rich byproduct of sewage treatment.

Even the residents resigned to rationing complain about low water pressure on their designated watering days.

County utility officials point out the ordinance providing for reclaimed water mentions the possibility of service interruptions. During the drought, customers have quickly exhausted the daily 1.5-million gallons of water produced by east Pasco's four treatment plants.

Buck's well-tapping proposal could go a long way to resolving the dilemma, said Bruce Kennedy, the county's utilities director.

But it will probably have to wait for the next drought: Kennedy said tapping new wells for irrigation requires the approval of the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the state Department of Environmental Resources.

"It's very doable," Kennedy said. "But I would doubt we could make it happen next week to relieve the immediate problems they are having."

Lexington Oaks, the new housing development north of State Road 54 in Wesley Chapel, has already done what Buck is proposing.

Developers drilled a well that flows directly into pipes carrying reclaimed water, most of which irrigates the subdivision's golf course.

Buck will have to arrange two irrigation sources -- reclaimed and potable -- for one of his next projects, the 4,000-home Wesley Chapel Lakes, expected to break ground this year on land abutting Meadow Pointe.

Kennedy said his department is still a couple years shy of laying reclaimed water pipes to Wesley Chapel Lakes. In the meantime, the utilities department may ask Buck to supply neighborhood sprinklers with drinking water.

As for the the current shortages in Meadow Pointe, the county has not proposed refunding customers' $6 monthly fee.

Kennedy said neighbors could help their cause by limiting sprinkler use to one heavy watering per week.

"Problem is, we can't get people to voluntarily spread things out," he said. "We've got to change people's mind-set."

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