The Southwest Florida Water Management District has declared a water shortage emergency and authorized the Englewood Water District to help the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority (Authority) by providing water to Charlotte County Utilities.
The Authority requested the emergency authorization, in conjunction with Englewood and Charlotte County, to temporarily offset water demand that is normally supplied exclusively by the Authority. The Authority’s service area includes North Port as well as Charlotte, DeSoto, Sarasota and Manatee counties (Manatee County currently does not receive water from the authority.)
District Executive Director David Moore signed an executive order Thursday. The authorization will allow the Englewood Water District temporarily to increase withdrawals from its five wellfields to provide extra water to Charlotte County through a recently constructed interconnection. This will allow the Authority to reduce the amount of water it supplies to the county, which will extend its water supplies during the remaining months of the current dry season.
The Englewood Water District’s water use permit normally allows Englewood to withdraw an annual average of 5.36 million gallons per day (mgd), with a peak month withdrawal of 6.59 mgd. Under the emergency authorization, Englewood’s peak month withdrawal may be as much as 7.6 mgd, which should allow Englewood to deliver up to 2.2 mgd to Charlotte County while still continuing to meet local demands. The emergency authorization contains important features that are designed to prevent adverse environmental impacts by specifying how each of Englewood’s five wellfields are to be managed.
The Peace River is the Authority’s primary water source to meet the drinking water needs of approximately 250,000 residents. During periods of high river flows, the authority typically stores water in its reservoir and two Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) wellfields for later use during the dry season or whenever river withdrawals are not sufficient to meet drinking water demands.
According to the Authority, demand for water in its service area averaged 17.6 mgd during the week ending Jan. 18. However, withdrawals from the Peace River averaged only 7.2 mgd during the same period. This means that the amount of water in storage was depleted at a rate of 10.4 mgd.
As of Jan. 18, the regional reservoir only had 426 million gallons in storage. The reservoir has the capacity to hold up to 625 million gallons. The Authority is also recovering water from both ASR wellfields. As of that same date, only 19 million gallons remain in storage, compared to a storage capacity of 7.4 billion gallons.
Overall, approximately 445 million gallons, or just 5.4 percent of the Authority’s total storage capacity, is left in storage. At the same time last year the Authority had 573 million gallons of water in storage.
The District has taken other emergency actions to assist the Authority during the current drought. In August 2007, the District authorized the Authority to pump additional water from the Peace River, when sufficient flows were available, to store in its reservoir and two ASR wellfields to help protect the drinking water supply. A modified version of that order remains in effect. Earlier this month, the District also authorized the Authority to make limited groundwater withdrawals from its ASR wellfields once all previously-stored river water is recovered from those wells.
The Peace River watershed has received below-normal rainfall and according to the U.S. Drought Monitor portions of the area are experiencing abnormally dry or moderate drought conditions. The area is expected to continue to receive below-normal rainfall through May.
The combination of current hydrologic conditions and resulting water supply conditions constitute an ongoing threat to public water supplies and the public’s health, safety and welfare.
The order is scheduled to expire on July 1, 2009 unless it is rescinded or extended by the District’s Governing Board or executive director.