Severe water shortage declared in the region
Press release from Alachua County
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Johns River Water Management District has declared a Phase II Severe Water Shortage for portions of northeast and central Florida due to ongoing drought conditions and declining water levels.
The Alachua County Environmental Protection Department encourages all residents and commercial properties to conserve water and avoid any unnecessary use.
Landscape irrigation is limited to one day per week throughout Gainesville, Hawthorne, and Micanopy and will remain in effect into Daylight Saving Time. It is anticipated that the Suwannee River Water Management District will adopt similar restrictions next week, resulting in consistent restrictions throughout Alachua County and northeast Florida.
“Working as a community to reduce water use is always important, but especially critical during periods of drought. Conserving water helps protect our regional water supply and local spring and river flows,” said Alachua County Environmental Protection Department Director Stephen Hofstetter.
It’s sowing season…curious time to lecture regular citizens on water usage.
What do the two local water management districts have to say to the commercial farmers who dominate water usage in this area and grow corn for ethanol fuel and soybeans for export and estrogen?
There is very little, if any, soybeans or field corn grown in Florida.
I’m not sure where you live at but in Suwannee County Lafayette County there’s a lot of corn and soy beans growing every year
Steve, both are very prevalent
https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG185/pdf
https://swfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/docs/nat-res-econ/economic_sustainability/2023-12-07-Sweet_Corn_Production_Price_Trends.pdf
I accidentally linked sweet corn (which is usually edible), instead of field corn production. Here’s field corn, which is also very prevalent in Florida and increasingly being used for unneeded biofuels/ethanol and is generally used to subsidize large farming operations. We should farm food, not unnecessary fuel.
https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG202/pdf
Slice, the water management districts have been slowly, purposefully, and steadily neutered by Republicans for decades now. That includes budgets, authority, staff (numbers and type), and political appointees.
The businesses donating to campaigns expect something for their money and their getting it with WM Districts, developments, and pollution control.
The first ones that should stop is the water boiling companies who pumped millions of gallons a year out shut them down first, then talk to me, but not pumping water
Golf courses, sand mines, bottling companies, developers.
I wonder why our thread about bottle water abuse as well as billy Gates’ Lakeland Sands Florida (a subsidiary of Cascade Investments LLC) just north of us was deleted from comments?
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Thanks for the reply…just making sure I didn’t trigger something!
The water rights allocated to Lakeland Sands Florida is beyond insane…and that’s just one of many. It’s a big club and we ain’t in it!
I guess we’re not supposed to point out that kind of stuff I came by Quail Heights country club in Columbia County today. Guess what was running? Yes, their sprinklers.
As I said earlier, when all the major users of water stopped i will worry about it until then I own my well and the land it sits on so I assume the the water underneath it belongs to me also