Some public water suppliers in the northern portion of the Southwest Florida Water Management District will need to increase their conservation efforts to meet new water use efficiency standards approved by the Governing Board last week.
The Board voted to require all water utilities in the District to use 150 gallons or less per person per day. Previously, the District had only required water utilities in designated Water Use Caution Areas (WUCAs) to meet or be under the 150 daily per capita limit.
A WUCA is designated for regions where cumulative water withdrawals are causing or may cause adverse impacts to the water and related land resources or the public interest. The 10 central and southern counties in the District, from Pasco to Charlotte counties, are in caution areas. The District’s six northern counties – Levy, Lake, Marion, Sumter, Citrus and Hernando counties – are not currently in water use caution areas.
The Board took the action to increase water conservation efforts in the northern portion of the District to help prevent such adverse impacts from occurring in the future.
From 1985 to 1989, before the District designated any WUCAs, per capita water use in the central and southern portions of the District averaged 146 gallons per person per day. By 2003 to 2007, that number dropped to 109 gallons per person per day. However, water use in the northern District counties has continued to increase. Per capita water use jumped to 175 gallons per person per day from 2003 to 2007, compared to 162 gallons per person per day from 1985 to 1989.
The Board action also included standardizing per capita reporting requirements. The standardized rules also include:
- Requiring utilities to use a standardized method for calculating populations served, such as permanent and seasonal residents, tourists and commuters. Utilities will be given the opportunity to deduct certain significant water uses not related to the water needs of the population served such as factories, regional hospitals and government facilities.
- Requiring all utilities and public supply permittees with an average annual daily quantity above 100,000 gallons per day to submit annual per capita use data.
- Requiring public supply utilities to provide updated maps and information to better delineate their service areas.
- Requiring public supply utilities to submit annual reports on residential water use, reclaimed water use, stormwater and unaccounted for water use.
The rulemaking process that led to this change included input from the District’s Public Supply Advisory Committee, public workshops, and other public supply stakeholders.
Utilities will have ten years to achieve the 150 per capita rate.