The Southwest Florida Water Management District issued a 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 executive order signed Friday will allow the Authority to use its two existing aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) wellfields to pump groundwater once the treated water being stored in the wellfields is depleted.
As of Jan. 7, the Authority had a total of 609 million gallons of water in storage, of which 427 million gallons is being stored in the ASR wellfields. Compared to a total storage capacity of about 8 billion gallons, this is an extremely low amount to have in storage. Based on consumption rates, the Authority expects to deplete the ASR wellfield storage by late January.
The emergency order allows the Authority to pump a maximum of 17 million gallons of water per day from the ASR wellfields until July 1, 2009. During this time, the Authority must stop pumping ground water from the ASR wellfields if another water source, or a combination of other water sources, is able to meet current demand.
The Authority’s 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 Authority’s 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 use during the dry season or whenever river withdrawals are not sufficient to meet drinking water demands.