Opinion: Water shortage requires action, not just talk

Why do the officials in our water district think that the residents of the bay area are going to take the water shortage seriously if, by their own actions or inaction, they don't take it seriously?

We see and hear repeated dire warnings issued by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, but the indifferent cities and counties involved go right on issuing building permits, failing to seriously enforce water restrictions and failing to keep the low-flow toilet replacement program funded. If they can't take the political heat from taking these actions now, I wonder how they will respond to the public heat generated when there is not enough water to flush the toilets and bathe.

Are these responsible actions of officials who are charged with meeting the demands of public health and safety?
-- John Farnham, St. Petersburg

Conserve water around the house

Water conservation begins at home. Don't leave water running while cleaning the teeth or washing veggies (do it in a bowl).

Use a bucket to save cold water while waiting for warm water in the shower. Use that water to flush the toilet. Get in, get wet, get soaped, get rinsed, get out. If you must admire your body, do so in front of a mirror.

Use laundry water for the garden. Run a hose outside. If wash water is not too dirty, toss it on your plants. Bugs are not too fond of soap suds.

Rinse water from the dishes can go into the garden. (I'm assuming all people do not have dishwashers.)

There must be dozens of other suggestions. I am sure other readers can supply them, if asked.
-- Anita Ferron, St. Petersburg

Talking a good game

The Southwest Florida Water Management District has been in charge of the water supply and distribution problem for around 20 years. These highly paid people talk a good game. Unfortunately, that seems to be all they can do as far as solving our water problem is concerned. They bandy about ideas for high-cost desalination plants. They impose ever-stricter restrictions on the dwindling supply of water. They moan and groan about lack of rainfall. They stew over the increasing amount of sinkholes. What concrete progress have they made toward making the problem go away? Near as I can see, none.

We built a lengthy oil pipeline over environmentally critical land in Alaska decades ago. It survives upheaval by permafrost, is elevated over animal migration routes, is subjected to dizzying temperature fluctuations. If it springs a leak, there will be unimaginable havoc wreaked on the environment. But Swiftmud, which has at its disposal hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water being poured into the Gulf of Mexico each day at Homosassa Springs and Crystal River, doesn't have the vision to pipe that water a mere 80 miles downstate. If an offshore water pipe broke, all we'd have is fresh water diluting salt water and the impact would be negligible.

To add insult to injury with regard to the water problems, we have developers clamoring to build more high-rise condos, more housing subdivisions, more malls and more hotels. All of these projects use water that we don't have. The people we elected to our city and county boards seem to be oblivious to our critical water situation, because they continue to permit the building. More development is not necessary for life in the Tampa Bay area, but water supply is.

The solution is to place a moratorium on any new building projects until the water distribution problem is solved. Swiftmud has had its shot and has done nothing. It is time to dismantle this organization and find people who are interested in more than perpetuating their own high-salaried jobs.

Think about it: If Swiftmud manages to solve the water crisis, their high-paying jobs will cease to exist. It does not behoove these people to find an end to the problem, does it?
-- Gloria Palmer, Largo

Reduce, eliminate, control growth

Get serious about water, editorial, Dec. 18.

Your editorial lists three steps that could be taken to preserve our dwindling water resources -- penalize overpumpimg, enforce watering restrictions and charge more for excessive water use. True, these ideas that address the existing sources of demand are a part of an effective solution.

However, the part of an effective solution you fail to discuss is the new sources of demand constantly being added in the form of new housing developments. When are you and our elected so-called "leaders" going to realize that the major part of the answer to our water problem is a plan to reduce, eliminate or at least control growth? But then, I guess new housing developments mean lots of new places to sell newspapers.
-- A. Barnard, Beverly Hills

Creating criminals won't help

Re: Fines may get stiffer for water cheaters, Dec. 8.

I am having a problem understanding the water shortage we are supposedly having. According to David Tippin, director of the Tampa Water Department, we are about 35 percent short of our normal rainfall, which creates a shortage for existing homes, etc.

What happens when these developers and builders are building thousands of new homes and planting new landscaping? Are these developers bringing their own water with them?

People like Tippin are hired to do a job and should find solutions to the problems, not create criminals by imposing fines on some. If this job is too big for him, he should step down and let someone else have a crack at it.
-- Tony Dutra, Hudson

IB students are different

Re: Earning an A in tough program gets tougher, on paper, by Stephen Hegarty, Dec. 16.

Stephen Hegarty states, "... it's unclear why some IB classes... were operating under an easier standard." Please allow me to provide some clarification.

I first taught International Baccalaureate ninth-grade students in the fall of 1987 and, consistently, throughout the ensuing years I have graded on a 90=A, 80=B, 70=C, 65=D scale. Why? Because I know that my students work "... among the toughest, most demanding classes offered in the district... " and that the students who achieve a 90 percent performance have worked much harder than their peers who earn 94 percent in regular program classes. I say this simply as a matter of fact -- based on 14 years of experience working with IB students and 40 years of experience in education in general, as well as an appreciation of the standards set by other members of the IB faculty.

I also created this grading standard because every IB student takes seven courses each semester, with only a total of six elective semester-hours available during the four-year program.

Consequently, for ninth-graders entering this pressure-cooker IB environment, to provide them with some relief in the grading policy seemed a small price to pay.

I will, of course, "be a good soldier" and conform to the county system and, as Dr. Linda McPheron indicated in the article, "... their grades won't suffer." My students will continue to achieve an 87 percent success rate for A and B grades. However, the rationale for insisting on this conformity for these students strikes me as unproductive. Why should these students be treated differently? Because they are different.
-- Dr. Wallace F. Witham, IB teacher, Belleair Bluffs

Reject population growth ideal

With all the grandiose plans for alleviating road congestion, school overcrowding, water shortages, etc., not once has it been suggested by these so-called experts that the United States level off or, preferably, decrease its population. Each day, in Florida alone, 450 acres of forest must be leveled, 328 acres of farmland is lost to development and 111,000 additional gallons of water are consumed to accommodate this state's daily population growth.

Additionally, Florida needs at least two miles of roadway, two new classrooms and two more prison beds each day because of new arrivals. It is estimated that Florida's population will increase to 20.7-million by 2025 from 15.9-million people today.

Long-term plans to accommodate new residents -- whether they're from other states or other nations -- are fated to do nothing more than attract even more newcomers to an already overcrowded area. The only long-term solution is to put a stop to construction of new houses, apartments and infrastructure. Plans to increase population densities in smaller land areas or to build high-rise apartment buildings rather than sprawl are but dodges to avoid facing the reality that we are overpopulated and overcrowded already.

What's left of our quality of life, natural resources, open spaces and beauty -- the basis of our economy -- may only be saved if we reject the false notion that growth in population is inevitable or desirable and that we taxpayers have to pay for their accommodations.
-- Ben Arnold, conservation chairman, Broward County Audubon Society, Tamarac

What happened to Harry Lee?

I, for one, am sick and tired of those weepy little stories about what a wonderful man Harry Lee Coe was. The Harry Lee I remember loved to throw the book at people, loved to make sarcastic remarks from the bench, loved to preach about juvenile offenders being treated as adults. No compassion from Harry Lee... no sir. You do the crime, you do the time.

Maybe the reason Harry Lee ended up the way he did was because he was scared he might end up in a courtroom with a judge as lacking in compassion as he was.
-- Mary Freeman, St. Petersburg

Don't relax the gambling laws

Re: Sleaze, as in slots, Nov. 29.

I agree with this Times editorial. Harry Lee Coe's tragic death is a good example of why we should not relax the gambling laws. Mr. Coe was an extraordinary individual. If he could fall into gambling's trap, how easy it would be for any one of us. For every Harry Lee Coe, there must be dozens of ordinary people felled by gambling's allure. Relaxing the gambling laws to allow slot machines at race tracks will add one more snare to catch the unwary.

Whatever gain some may reap from slot machines, it will be at the expense of honest, hard-working citizens corrupted and beguiled by a game of chance. If more tax revenue is needed, then levy it in an open and straightforward manner that the public can see and choose. Whatever employment might be generated by allowing slot machines, those so employed would be better employed elsewhere. Whatever benefit is to be gained cannot replace the loss of another life ruined.

Slot machines at the race track is an idea whose time has not come. Unless human nature becomes so perfected that individuals cannot be corrupted and ruined for so little gain, its time will never come. Even so, the petitions are going around again to seek a referendum to allow slot machines at the dog tracks. Before signing this petition, think of Harry Lee Coe.
-- Philipp Michel Reichold, Largo

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