We just read this editorial, from the Jacksonville Times... and a perspective we agree with, and one that might have been distributed at the PODER Miami conference for "Building a Sustainable Future".
Here is the commentary South Florida is the worst example for preserving water:
By RON LITTLEPAGE
The Times-Union - Friday, April 20, 2007
(Ron Littlepage is a political columnist for The Times-Union. His column usually appears on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.)
The smelly, smoky haze that clouded the sky the past several days is a visible reminder of how dry it is.
And those of us who were here in 1998 hope it's not foretelling another summer of wildfires like occurred that year.
I asked Tim Deegan, chief meteorologist for First Coast News, about the drought.
He said rainfall last year was 30 percent below normal. And the period from last April through the end of March was "one of our driest 12-month periods on record."
It's not much better.
Rainfall in Jacksonville so far this year was about 5 inches below normal and the St. Johns River Water Management District reports that rainfall in the district's 18 counties is 3.37 inches below a normal year.
And there's more bad news.
According to news reports, during an emergency meeting in Tallahassee earlier this week on Florida's drought, weather experts told Gov. Charlie Crist that we are in a two- or three-year drought cycle.
Once again, we can learn from the bad example set by South Florida. The drought there is more severe than it is here.
The South Florida Water Management District says on its Web site that "South Florida is experiencing one of the driest times in our history."
"The entire state is under some level of drought," the district says. "A drought this widespread and severe has never happened in this region."
Because of that, on April 13 the district imposed strong restrictions on water usage.
Even that might not be enough. Why? Because more development has been allowed in South Florida than the natural resources can sustain.
South Florida water managers are already looking at tapping into water conservation areas that were established to protect and provide water for the Everglades.
Taking water from those would damage the $10 billion Everglades restoration project and threaten wading birds, fish, alligators and other wildlife.
Unfortunately, we know who would win when it comes to allowing development to run amok and it's not the wildlife.
To avoid a repeat here, we had better adhere to the water restrictions mandated by the St. Johns River Water Management District.
As a reminder, district rules prohibit watering lawns and landscaping between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and limit watering to no more than two days a week per zone.
The rules not only apply to water from public supply utilities but also to private wells and surface waters.
We can do that. The tougher nut to crack will be to properly manage growth, which we haven't exactly done a good job of in the past.
If we don't? Look at South Florida.
1 comment:
To ensure that the developers don't lose their shirts on all of these condos and homes built on spec or for spec we need to raise property taxes or divert them to some sort of trust fund, like the one for affordable housing, and pay the developers for taking the risk of building in an overbuilt market during the last 5 years. Also, that would encourage them to take their housing stock off the market and save water by not allowing residents to move in. Lets get a bill thru the FL leg. Someone work on it, print up some shirts and get on a bus for the capital.
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