The Southwest Florida Water Management District hasdeclared 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, in order 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.)
The District received the request and an executive order was signed yesterday by David Moore, the District’s executive director. The authorization will allow the Englewood Water District to temporarily 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.
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 7.2 mgd, which should allow Englewood to deliver approximately 1.5 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 11.2 mgd last week. However, withdrawals from the Peace River averaged 10.5 mgd during the same period. This means that the amount of water in storage was depleted at a rate of 700,000 gallons per day.
As of Monday, February 4, the regional reservoir only had 469 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. Only 106 million gallons remain in storage, compared to a storage capacity of 7.4 billion gallons.
Overall, approximately 575 million gallons, or just seven percent of the Authority’s total storage capacity, is left in storage. This is approximately one-third the amount of water that was in storage at the same time last year.
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.
The Peace River watershed has received below normal rainfall. In fact, the lack of rain during the last 12 months has led to a 14.48 inch rainfall deficit. 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 May 1, 2008 unless it is rescinded or extended by District’s Governing Board or executive director.