Phase IV Water Restrictions

Well, one day after my speech about water conservation, in which I mentioned that we were under a Phase III water shortage, SWFWMD has voted to move to a Phase IV (critical) water shortage, the most severe shortage ever experienced in the Tampa Bay area.

Water resources are now officially at a critically low level; as this article at Bay News 9 mentions, the Hillsborough River, which supplies most of the drinking water for the city of Tampa, is so low that in many places one can walk across the river without going more than knee-deep in water. River flows for all of the major rivers in the Tampa Bay region (Hillsborough River, Alafia River, Peace River, Anclote River, etc), on a scale from 0 to 100 (0 being worst), are hovering around the 2nd percentile. Some lakes in the area (Lake Tarpon, for example) are two feet below their lowest previously recorded levels. Right now Lake Tarpon is less than 8 feet deep in areas where it should be almost 20 feet.

With wildfires breaking out all over Central Florida, and drought conditions likely to worsen (April is historically the month with the lowest rainfall- only about 1.5"), the water shortage is only going to get worse until the rains start in May/June. Even then, it will take months for surface water levels to get back to normal, and the reservoir still has a great deal of repair to undergo before it can be used to store water.

The new water restrictions include outright bans on:
* Ornamental fountains/outdoor water features
* Residential pressure washing
* Car washing
* Campfires and controlled burns

...and a reduction in the amount of time you can water your lawn- down from thirty minutes maximum to twenty minutes maximum. Remember to adjust your sprinklers, fines in every affected county are over $100 for a first offense ($188 in Pinellas!).