The Southwest Florida Water Management District has extended the water shortage emergency order for the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority to protect the drinking water supply for more than 250,000 residents. The order is now scheduled to expire on June 25, 2008 unless it is rescinded or extended by Districts Governing Board or executive director. The order was slated to expire April 19, 2008.
The executive order (SWF 07-045) signed Wednesday will allow the Authority to continue to increase temporarily withdrawals from the Peace River to store additional water in its existing reservoir and two aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) wellfields.
The authoritys service area includes the City of North Port as well as portions of Charlotte, DeSoto, Sarasota and Manatee counties (Manatee County currently does not receive water from the authority.) The Peace River is the Authoritys primary source to meet the drinking water needs of its customers. During periods of high river flows, the Authority typically stores untreated water in its reservoir and stores treated water in its ASR wellfields for later treatment and use during the dry season or whenever river withdrawals are not sufficient to meet drinking water demands.
The Authority has been able to divert more than 1.5 billion gallons of water more than its water use permit would have normally allowed since the emergency order was issued on Aug. 13. As of April 14, the Authority has 582 million gallons of water in storage.
However, compared to a total storage capacity of more than 7.9 billion gallons, this is an extremely low amount to have in storage during the dry season. In order to keep meeting the public health, welfare and safety needs of its service area, the Authority needs to continue capturing as much surface water as possible.
The newest modification to the emergency order includes two temporary, seasonal adjustments to its existing water use permit. The first modification changes the maximum amount of water withdrawn from the Peace River from 10 percent of the average daily flow, as read at the Peace River gauge near Arcadia for the previous day, to 10 percent of the combined average daily flow as measured at the Arcadia, Horse Creek and Joshua Creek gauges for the previous day.
The second modification also changes the point at which a higher percentage of withdrawals is allowed. If the previous days combined flow should go above 221 cfs, the temporary permit modifications would allow the Authority to withdraw 22.1 cfs (10 percent of 221 cfs) plus 26 percent of flow above 221 cfs. For example, if the previous days combined daily flow was 500 cfs, the Authority could withdraw 94.6 cfs.
The emergency order is consistent with the proposed minimum flow for the Lower Peace River. The newest modification still does not allow the Authority to withdraw water when the previous day’s combined daily flow is below 90 cfs.
This is the third time the District has extended and modified the water shortage emergency order first issued Aug. 13, 2007.