Water Restrictions Extended Through February

Once-a-week watering restrictions will continue for at least five more months.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board on Tuesday voted unanimously to extend the restrictions until Feb. 27 after district staff showed the rainy season was far from rainy enough for groundwater, river and lake levels to rebound to pre-drought levels.

Most of those levels have improved since this time last year thanks to some healthy rainfall over the summer, but "we're way below where we should be right now," Dave Moore, executive director for the water management district known as Swiftmud, told the board.

Most of the district's 16-county region has received normal rainfall in the last year. That wasn't enough, however, to wipe away the effects of a drought that began two years ago.

The district's northern region, which includes Hernando County, still faces an 11-inch deficit for the last 24-month period. The districtwide shortfall is more than 16 inches.

The Hillsborough, Withlacoochee, Peace and Alafia rivers never hit normal levels this rainy season. The rivers have already peaked for the rainy season and started to decline again as the dry season begins, Granville Kinsman, the district's director of hydrological data, told the board.

Two of the region's water suppliers, Tampa Bay Water and the Peace River Water Supply Authority still face low levels.

Governing board member Richard Oakley said residents understand the water supply challenges the district faces.

"Most people I talk to realize we're still in a drought," he said.

District staff continues to work on a year-round restriction policy that would provide better consistency, said Richard Owen, the district's deputy executive director for resource regulation.

Swiftmud should keep the once-a-week restrictions "now and forever," Chuck Morton, a Weeki Wachee resident and president of the Hernando Environmental Land Protectors. Grass and landscaping can handle it just fine, he said.

Morton, a Realtor, said he makes sure to explain the restrictions to new residents.

"We don't have to shovel snow, but we do have to conserve our water," he said.