By Kay

July 4, 2007 5:40 PM | Link to this

It makes more sense to me to place restrictions on new construction. Fewer new gated communities, condos, etc. means limiting the number of people using a valuable, non-renewable resource. There was an article written many years ago, stating that there was only enough fresh water in Florida to last a certain amount of years. That water had to sustain fewer people when the article was written than it does now. If restrictions aren’t placed on new construction going up in the little bit of wilderness we have left, then we will be living in a desert. No trees, no wildlife, no natural Florida beauty, no water… Fact, not fiction.

By Voice of reason

July 4, 2007 5:37 PM | Link to this

Don’t waste your energy writing here to complain about water restrictions. Do something about it. Go to your town meetings and voice your opinion. Go to county commission meetings and do the same. Write, e-mail, and call your commissioners, congressmen/women, state reps, and the governor’s office.

By carlos

July 4, 2007 3:19 PM | Link to this

Invest in america buy a politician. invierta en america compre un politico. county government for sale, the white house for sale, america for sale, governor christ now on the market to the highest bidder. screw the people and steal all their money through high property taxes. legalize marijuana and prostitution and tax it to pay for for salary increase for all county commisioners, problem solved leaving to nc soon good bye dumb floridians.

By Pbc Worker

July 4, 2007 3:10 PM | Link to this

I would like the county to impose the requirement of a permit for watering the lawn and maybe charge an annual fee of 75.00 per house for cutting the grass and waterring the lawn.we need the county to step in and issue summons for those who continue to water their lawn.

By Pbc Worker

July 4, 2007 3:10 PM | Link to this

I would like the county to impose the requirement of a permit for watering the lawn and maybe charge an annual fee of 75.00 per house for cutting the grass and waterring the lawn.we need the county to step in and issue summons for those who continue to water their lawn.

By Dave

July 4, 2007 3:02 PM | Link to this

Year-round water restrictions in one of the biggest wetlands in the world—-now thats Palm Beach Post,AKA-greedy developer—a*s clown logic. What we should be asking is when will we halt insane development. This is an insult to all logic

By Dave

July 4, 2007 3:02 PM | Link to this

Year-round water restrictions in one of the biggest wetlands in the world—-now thats Palm Beach Post,AKA-greedy developer—a*s clown logic. What we should be asking is when will we halt insane development. This is an insult to all logic

By Dave

July 4, 2007 3:02 PM | Link to this

Year-round water restrictions in one of the biggest wetlands in the world—-now thats Palm Beach Post,AKA-greedy developer—a*s clown logic. What we should be asking is when will we halt insane development. This is an insult to all logic

By Dave

July 4, 2007 3:01 PM | Link to this

Year-round water restrictions in one of the biggest wetlands in the world—-now thats Palm Beach Post,AKA-greedy developer—a*s clown logic. What we should be asking is when will we halt insane development. This is an insult to all logic

By Dave

July 4, 2007 3:01 PM | Link to this

Year-round water restrictions in one of the biggest wetlands in the world—-now thats Palm Beach Post,AKA-greedy developer—a*s clown logic. What we should be asking is when will we halt insane development. This is an insult to all logic

By jack

July 4, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this

“Want to buy some Florida land? ” We are as corrupt as any large city, except this is statewidwide!

By jack

July 4, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this

“Want to buy some Florida land? ” We are as corrupt as any large city, except this is statewidwide!

By ozzie

July 4, 2007 8:35 AM | Link to this

Why in the Hell would the people in Florida been worried about Flood control in the Center part of the state in the Mid 60s . NO ONE LIVED THERE . Disney hadnt even been thought of in Orladno and Kissimee. A grand example of massive actions with out thinking of immediate conesequences. Solving problems blindly on little information. Then again it was this same time the environmentalist saint Rachel Carson came out with a book about deadly DDT and she promptly died 2 years later. Her book as it turns out is mostly fiction but the governments here and world wide took it as as the bible totally banning it. Seven million Deaths she helped cause are not ! Because Malaria is far more deadly then any other disease in Africa by far, more than aids, they suffer the brunt dying every 20 seconds from it. Massive fixes for problems are usally disasters but a few more birds and critters are around because of it so the environmentalists celebrate. I think in Nigeria they would rather be bathing in DDT then seeing birds eggs a little thicker. So watch out for the next save problem solvers for Global warming, they are likely in the short run to save as many people as a global war if they get there way. Leave the Lake be. In about 5 years the Suns natuaral degree of brightness which does change, will go down and it will rain 3 times as much and you idiots will be talking about the next Ice Age like you were just 40 years ago. -

By Bill Neubauer

July 4, 2007 8:30 AM | Link to this

 No, restrictions should not be year-round--yet.  
First somebody should make a long-term look at what Florida water supply will support in the development realm and make sure that ALL development plans are compatible with water supplies, even in drought years. 
 The current problems result, in part, because the water management district did not anticipate the current drought and poured billions of gallons of fresh water into the ocean instead of making better long-range decisions.

By bottom feeder

July 4, 2007 8:06 AM | Link to this

To answer some readers technical questions, the large pumps on the south side of the lake were designed to pump water from the south into Lake Okeechobee for flood control and water supply purposes. In every drought previous to this one, water from the south has been pumped into the Lake for water supply purposes and the practice has made a significant contribution to recovery from bad droughts. Why this is not being done now is a question for Governor Crist because that is a decision he will have to make. And no decision or a delayed decision is an affirmative decision not to do anything positive to relieve what is clearly an emergency situation. Remember Harry and the sign on his desk “The buck stops here.”

By jupitergardensre.com

July 4, 2007 7:58 AM | Link to this

suggest that they keep the draught restrictions on all properties that are overbuilt for natural rainfall-ie: highrises and high density.

By slobrn

July 4, 2007 7:56 AM | Link to this

Absolutly they should increase control over our watering. Anything to increase the power officials have over the living of my life.

Yep, that business of live free or die is just stupid, I think we should be preparing for life under Yugo, that is what the the big D party would want.

By Rose

July 4, 2007 6:59 AM | Link to this

- **See the movie…

CHINATOWN**

By Mike

July 4, 2007 6:55 AM | Link to this

The state needs to stop screwing around with nature. All that money wasted on this river, and Lake O wouln’t be having the problen it is if they didn’t dump 3 feet of water out of it last year in prep for hurricane season.

By mugsley

July 4, 2007 6:05 AM | Link to this

I water when I want and for as long as I want. The local government of manny, moe and jack cannot prohibit me from using what God gave me. I own my well(s) and do not depend on the governement for any water service. How someone or something prohibit what they do not provide me? People better awaken and understand local government cannot prohibit our use of what we own. Did anyone ever hear of the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution. Only Congress can pass laws that directly or indirectly effect Commerce. I behest that the water distric fine me so I could file a lawsuit. Oh by the way, the County has never prevailed in a case against me or any of my clients. Can you guess my name?

By bag

July 4, 2007 2:12 AM | Link to this

Ohh my…. A bit of rain falls o West palm beach and the drough restriction need to be lifted. Yes the drough retrictions should remain. Infact they should be more severe. The Aquifer has to recover, with ittle if anyrain over norther florida and the Kissemme area Lake O and the aquifer cannot be replenished. Lake ok is drainign constantly becasue it feed the aquifer as well as the sloughs leading to the everglades. Yes Did you read that .. It feed the Aquifer!!! the more waer you take from your wells which go into the Aquifer the more need to replace it… Becasue it has rained over WPB doesnt mean that it has replenished the Aquifer.
I stated a few months ago that the stituation was dire but eh i got some wonderful comments. Well people look at this… It didnt matter that Lake o water level was reduced last year.. This drough was still goning to be a problem…. Becasue people are too busy placing blame On SFWMD and on them alone. Instead this drough has been made worse by developments, waist by stupidly watering lawnd, golf courses etc. The DUmb attitude of the blame game is ironic. For once and for all stop puring millions of gallons of water on golf course.. I cannot believe that they have permits to do that… Even if great amounts of rainfall fall on Kissemme, Lake O and WPB its too late to stop this problem. The dry season will soon be here and low and behold … no water in lake o no water in the aquifer… I have my degrees in urban social geography, physical geography biologhy and Nursing. I have some knowledge of the whole problem. I predicted this situation 3 years ago, told my wife what was going to happen and we moved to north florida. To be honest I gave it 5 years before the drough became the problem it is now. I said in about 7 years the aquifer would be flooded with salt water… ANd by year 10 south florida would be turning into a salt marsh or desert. I tell you this … what SFWMD and your county commisioners are not telling you is that wells that feed the city are registering increased salt ( seawater) levels. Oce sea water moves into the aquifer it cannot be removed.. Local realators here have been telling us to get prepared for people moving up from the south. I have realtors here everday asking if we want to sell. Why… becasue they want an inventory prepared for just after summer as the water shortage will be so bad in the south people will have to move north. Especially those with horses. The realators here are rubbing tier hands with glee. They dont expect to sell the million dollar farms here but ones like mine are being seen as prime investments at the moment… Why.. well we have a spring fed well… water from undrground springs which originate in Georgia.. So we apparenty are looking very good. But people in the south must really wake up and see what is happening… soon you will have to have water brought in by tankers… and await the year it will take to build pipelines north or to build desalination plants…

By swinger

July 3, 2007 10:52 PM | Link to this

i just want to know how to get in on the swing-a-thon going on over there at SFWMD. these shared vacation homes sound kinky. how can me and the wifey get in on some of the action

By Art

July 3, 2007 10:43 PM | Link to this

can’t the coastal rains be pumped to the lake? can an expert explain? thanks

By Responsible Water User

July 2, 2007 6:38 AM | Link to this

Gimmeabreak, are you blind?

Half of the County’s grass was brown until just recently when the rains started. If you drive through the County’s reclaimed water service area (that wasn’t regulated) the grass is beautiful and green.

My point of allowing people to irrigate had nothing to do with purification. It’s all about keeping our fresh water supply in circulation and not allowing it to diminish by flowing out to the ocean.

I agree, lawn irrigation should be done between midnight and 8 am to prevent evaporation. But people should be able to handwater plants anytime they like.

By gimmeabreak

July 1, 2007 10:26 PM | Link to this

Responsible water user, you are truly misinformed. Throwing irrigation on lawns and other random landscaped areas does little to purify water. Irrigation water sustains plants by replenishing water only to the top 2-4 inches of soil. Much is lost either to evaporation, or subsequently to transpiration from the very plants that seek the water.

What does replenish the ground water is allowing pools of water (retention ponds, lakes, etc) to collect water, be purified by the roots of native plants in and along the ponds and then the water trickles downward continually.

Irrigating for sake of irrigating is a waste, since so much would be lost to evaporation and transpiration in the top inches.

Using your logic, you’d want to then spray soil non-stop to get the water down into deeper areas of soil, but again, evaporation would lose about 50-70% of that depending on time of day and winds. Best is to store water in a consistent pond area to create a chain of water into the deeper soils (capillary action).

Fred, you too, have very flawed insight. Logic is that evaporation of water is lowest before sunrise when dewpoint and humidity are best. Watering is not mandated 4-8am just to be a pain in the a$$, it’s to reduce evaporation of the little water being tossed in the air. Mornings also typically have the least amount of winds.

By Fred

July 1, 2007 9:54 PM | Link to this

As people have pointed out, those who irrigate from some canals are actually capturing the water SFWMD would otherwise “flush out to tide” and getting it into the aquifer where we want it.

However, logic and fairness are not behind the water restrictions. They are designed 1) to allow rich snowbird compliance through automatic sprinkler timers, and 2) to make it very inconvenient to use water by setting hours like 4am-8am. During earlier phases (2 and 3 days/week), did you notice watering on Friday afternoon was never allowed, since that is a time many people who work would be home and actually able to water. We all know evaporation is not higher on Friday than other days.

The vagueness of the regulations leads to some interpretation questions such things as citing people for washing rugs outdoors.

By Jason L.

July 1, 2007 4:22 PM | Link to this

If year-long water use restrictions are deemed necessary, it seems natural that at the very least a suspension of building permits is necessary. The year-long water restrictions indicate to me that the current population cannot be adequately supported. Therefore, it’s logical that until the population can be adequately supported, growth should be halted.

By Eric

July 1, 2007 4:22 PM | Link to this

Did I miss something?

Where was the story about politicians putting new development on hold until the water supply situation is resolved? How can they mandate permanent water restrictions on us, yet continue to approve more golf courses and developments?

What’s wrong with this picture?

By mlrh

July 1, 2007 2:30 PM | Link to this

ToMr.Too. Some of these set aside areas turned out to have 13 feet of muck. The water can get in, but can’t get out and get to the proposed cleansing routes. bad planning. No surprise there.

By MrToo

July 1, 2007 2:29 PM | Link to this

SFWMD releases mas volumes of fresh water to the ocean every day. That water will never make its way back to our fresh water system.

By Responsible Water User

July 1, 2007 12:46 PM | Link to this

Our ability to irrigate freely doesn’t just help the grass. That water finds its way back into our freshwater system. Rather than depend completely on rainfall to recharge our well levels, we can keep well levels high by irrigating. Until SFWMD comes up with a way to capture wet season water, irrigation is the only way to make sure the fresh water we have remains available.

Year-round restrictions would just send more of our fresh water out to the ocean.

By Miles

July 1, 2007 12:43 PM | Link to this

Remember all that rain we got this week, especially on Saturday? I do, and I wonder why, after another week of natural irrigation, people still water their lawns. I drove home late last night, passing through many a city, and nary was the house or development that didn’t have its sprinklers running. Why is this? Shouldn’t there be an ordinance preventing unnecessary watering? Yes! There should!

By Fred

July 1, 2007 12:36 PM | Link to this

“Can we handle year-round water restrictions?”.

Because voters are usually apathetic and uninformed, especially during boom times, I think the current group of elected officials has become emboldened that they can get away with almost anything, such as the “surprise” that this year has been selected to implement permanent water restrictions, just as they are simultaneously being implemented in more distant states all across the US.

I’m going to predict we will have these permanent restrictions, and I’m also going to predict that over the next 5 years or so, there will be very few of today’s incumbents remaining in office at the local, district, and state level. Voters don’t like “surprises”!

By anonymous

July 1, 2007 12:27 PM | Link to this

Well, no matter how inefficient SFWMD, we should be on permanent water restrictions. There is absolutely NO need to water the grass here everyday. It doesn’t need it that much. But I don’t want SFWMD telling me its cause we don’t have enough rainfall. Tell me the truth: that you lowered the water level of Lake O in expectation of hurricanes we didn’t get and now we are paying the price for your stupidity. Next time, once the lake is higher, just leave it be until and ACTUAL hurricane is on its way…not when they say it is coming.

By Responsible Water User

July 1, 2007 10:33 AM | Link to this

Has anyone considered that SFWMD drained Lake O under pressure from insurance lobbists? Insurance companies petition to have the level in the lake lowered during hurricane season. I think someone caved in under pressure or bribe to get that level too low and now they can’t recover. So now we all get to suffer and put the water utilities in financial jeopardy. And why doesn’t anyone focus on well levels…which are fine? SFWMD is run by idiots.

By Paul Wall

July 1, 2007 9:54 AM | Link to this

No water — another blow to house prices! BA HA HA HA HA!

By MrToo

July 1, 2007 8:24 AM | Link to this

At least Bob indicated the mass releases of water to the ocean. He should have provided a stronger direct link of LAKE “O” levels to these releases. Bob also should have mentioned how back during the 2001 drought, SFWMD indicated they were creating additional water storage areas and developing better capabilities to move water to areas where it is needed. Where are these improved capabilities? SFWMD sure has been quiet about their 2001 promises. This entire water shortage is fabricated by power hungry water mangers.