Drought

Florida Conservation Coalition Calls Floridians to Action

Although the day began with the threat of rain that never materialized, more than 1400 people showed up at Silver River State Park today to join former Fla. Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and other leaders of the Florida Conservation Coalition in a call to action to protect Florida’s water resources.

Silver River State Park

Eleanor K. Sommer

Participants at the Florida Conservation Coalition Forum, Silver River State Park near Ocala in Florida.

The day included talks, educational sessions, hikes to the river, and music by Whitey Markle and the Swamprooters. Participants also had the opportunity to learn about Florida’s springs and the Floridan aquifer from a contingent of nonprofit organizations that lined the edges of the big tent where speakers presented short talks, shared memories, and urged citizens to contact elected officials regarding Florida’s dwindling water supplies.

Gov. Graham

Eleanor K. Sommer

Former Fla. Gov. Bob Graham delivers the message about Florida's dwindling water resources.

Sen. Graham began the program by telling the audience about his family’s history in the state of Florida and his first memories of the springs. Florida’s environment, he said, is the state’s most important economic asset.

Speaker Charles Lee of the Florida Audubon Society asked the audience to identify the most wasteful use of water in the state. He then pulled out a square of turf grass to emphasize his point: unnecessary landscape irrigation.

Lee also talked about the decline of flow rates in Florida’s waterways using Silver River as an example. Since 2000, Lee told the audience, the flow rate of the Silver Springs, which feeds the Silver River, flow has dropped from 800 cubic feet per second to 250 cubic feet per second.

If that rate continues he said, the springs could disappear within two to 12 years depending on whether you use aggressive or conservative measurements based on historical flow rates.

Lee also suggested that something is wrong with the rainfall calculations in the state. He said, for instance, that the Withlacoochee River has gone dry four times in the last 80 years: in 2001, 2005, 2009, and 2012, indicating rainfall has significantly changed in the last decade.

“Unfortunately, the water management districts are still plugging into their computer models that Florida is getting 60 inches of rainfall a year. Guess what? We’re not getting 60 inches a year,” he said.

The districts must calculate rainfall measurements and manage water accordingly, which Lee said will necessitate rolling back some existing consumptive use permits that are in existence now and failing to grant futures ones.

Lee admitted such action is a “tough call.” But he said “the reality is that the future of Florida’s economic growth is dependent on water resources.”

Share the Water

Based on the book The Ripple Effect by Alex Prud’Homme, Last Call at the Oasis  makes its theater Last Call at the Oasis premiere in May 2012. Already screened at various spring film festivals across the country, the documentary has received praise from reviewers, including Huffington Post Green:

 If there’s one film that every human on earth should be required to watch, this is it.

—Stefanie Penn Spear

Director Jessica Yu puts the global water crisis center stage with this documentary that highlights the social challenges, politics, and mechanics of making sure everyone in the world gets an adequate supply of fresh water. The film features environmental activist Erin Brockovich, water experts, and others who present the problems and solutions.

See the trailer.

Florida under Exceptional Drought Conditions

A drought is gripping the nation, and according to a report issued April 10 by the U.S. Drought Monitor, the country has not been this dry in five years. The South Florida Water Management District has issued water restrictions in 16 counties, and Lake Okeechobee is two feet below its historical average level of 14.12 feet.

The interactive map on the U.S. Drought Monitor site shows drought areas across the nation, for regions and for individual states. Jacksonville has experienced the driest period this year since1921. Monitoring stations reported the driest such 6-month period on record for Florida, especially in north-central Florida, according to the Drought Monitor report. South Florida has had slightly more rainfall than the rest of the state, but there is still a lack of decent short-term precipitation.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is a joint effort of the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility (U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Climate Prediction Center (U.S. Department of Commerce/NOAA/National Weather Service; National Climatic Data Center (DOC/NOAA), and other agencies and academic organizations.

 

Florida Drought Levels