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Board Approved 2010 Regional Water Supply Plan
Volumes
Board Approved 2010 Regional Water Supply Plan
Appendices
- 4-1 Reclaimed Water — Existing and Future by County
- 4-2 Planning Region Summary Table — Savings, Cost Effectiveness and Costs by Use Sector
- 4-3 Non-Agricultural Conservation Data Source, Utility Costs and Savings by County
- 4-4 Non-Public Supply Industrial⁄Commercial, Mining, Power Generation Data Source for Costs and Savings by County
- 4-5 Non-Public Supply Recreational ⁄ Aesthetic Data Source for Costs and Savings by County
- 4-6 Description of the Conservation Planning Model
- 4-7 Criteria for Determining Potential Water Availability for Rivers
2010 Draft Public Comments and District Responses
Previous Regional Water Supply Plans
RWSP home | Northern Region | Tampa Bay Region | Heartland Region | Southern Region
Heartland Planning Region
The Heartland Planning Region covers approximately 2,569 square miles and includes Hardee County and those portions of Highlands and Polk counties within the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Land uses in the region are diverse and include highly urbanized areas along the I-4 corridor in Polk County, extensive citrus groves along the Lake Wales Ridge, diverse agricultural lands in Hardee County and a large area dominated by strip mining for phosphate in southwest Polk County and northwest Hardee County.
The region’s hydrology features one major river, the Peace, which flows from its headwaters near Lake Hancock southward through central Hardee County, draining the majority of the region’s lands. The Lake Wales Ridge is a linear topographic high, trending north-south along the eastern side of the region, and is a high recharge area for the Upper Floridan aquifer with numerous lakes. Many lakes also are found in central Polk County. The region is underlain by three aquifer systems: the surficial, intermediate and Floridan. The latter is the primary source of water in the region and in the entire District area.
The 2005–2030 increase in water demand in the Heartland Planning Region is projected to be 137 million gallons per day (mgd). As of 2010, it is estimated that at least 16 percent of that demand (22 mgd) has either been met or will be met by projects that meet the District’s definition of being “under development.” The remaining demand will be met with a combination of unused groundwater quantities that have been permitted to utilities in Polk County, offset quantities of reclaimed water that will be available in the region by 2030, and through non-agricultural water conservation. An additional source available to meet demand includes projected reductions in agricultural and industrial/commercial, mining/dewatering and power generation (I/C, M/D, PG) groundwater use resulting from conservation measures and land-use transitions. This quantity could be permanently retired to achieve the saltwater intrusion minimum aquifer level in the planning region. It could also be used to allow for the development of a limited amount of fresh groundwater by mitigating predicted impacts to the Upper Floridan aquifer. Finally, the potential exists to import water into Polk County from supplies developed by Tampa Bay Water in the Tampa Bay Planning Region and/or from surface and groundwater supplies in the portion of Polk County in the South Florida Water Management District.
