A Times Editorial

No free water

The drought, population growth and wasteful habits are causing a difficult recovery in water levels, and don't let the afternoon thunderstorms fool you.

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 6, 2000

Reacquainted with the vivifying pleasure of the thunderstorm, Tampa Bay residents shouldn't get too giddy. The challenges to our water supply are as serious as they were before the rains returned.

First, there's the drought. It still exists. The Tampa reservoir shrank to a 14-day supply earlier this year, and 12 miles of the Peace River went dry. It took months and months of little or no rain to get to that point, and it could take longer to fully recover.

Then, there's population growth. Tampa Bay isn't slowing its housing construction, industrial recruitment or tourist advertising just because we're at the driest moment in our history. So more demand for a shrinking supply is on its way.

For all of those reasons, the decision by the Southwest Florida Water Management District board to continue one-day-a-week watering restrictions makes sense. The board even hinted the restriction might become permanent. While that won't be popular, it is responsible.

Irrigating endless stretches of St. Augustine grass with treated drinking water is wasteful in the best of times. During a drought, it is a self-defeating shame.

In a recent Times column, Tampa Bay Water General Manager Jerry Maxwell stressed the importance of getting new water sources online as quickly as possible, particularly the 15-billion gallon Tampa Bay Regional Reservoir. It is difficult to move quickly through the political mine field of regional water issues. But steady progress is needed on preparing the reservoir, desalination plant and other new sources of water.

Even then, we will need to conserve. Sewer districts should speed up distribution of reclaimed water for irrigation; landscapers should plant more drought-tolerant species; and homeowners should begin to replace lawns with xeriscaping.

The days of plentiful, inexpensive water in the Tampa Bay area are gone. On the other hand, water conservation will become easier with practice.

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