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District staff often will say their co-workers feel like family. But for some employees, it really is true. Here’s a few stories of family connections at the District: Tradesworker Tyler Ledington was excited to join the District eight months ago. Growing up, he saw how the District provided for his mom, senior administrative assistant Susie Holton. Susie, a 35-year veteran of the District, took Tyler to many “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” events.  The… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is doing double duty next weekend to spread the word about water conservation in Pinellas County.The District is bringing the comforts of a private, water-conserving restroom trailer to Pinellas County’s Earthfest and the Mainsail Arts & Crafts Show.Earthfest is April 16 at Pinellas County Extension Service office in Largo. The Mainsail Arts & Crafts Show is April 16-17 at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg.“… Read more

Virginia Frissell, a science resource teacher at Twin Lakes Elementary School in Tampa was named The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Water Steward of the Year.Frissell was chosen for her “Water Everywhere — Put It First — Make It Last” project. Her project was chosen from seven finalists. Twin Lakes Elementary is in the District’s Hillsborough River Basin.Frissell was honored at the Governing Board’s October meeting.… Read more

Almost half of the counties within the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s 16-county region are now under a Phase III “Extreme” Water Shortage Alert.The District identifies four possible levels of water shortage, beginning with “moderate” and increasing in intensity through “severe,” “extreme” and “critical.”With river flows, aquifer levels, and lake levels remaining far below normal, the region… Read more

At its June 11 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Coastal Rivers Basin Board adopted a proposed fiscal year 2010 (FY2010) millage rate of 0.1885 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year. The Coastal Rivers Basin Board covers portions of Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties.This millage rate, combined with a reduction in taxable property values as estimated by the county property appraisers, will result in an estimated 11.62 percent… Read more

District land managers plan to hold a series of hog hunts on District lands throughout the year to help reduce the feral hog population. Feral hogs, which are not native to Florida, can cause damage with their broad snouts and can leave an area looking like a plowed field. They also prey on native wildlife, compete with native species for food and transmit diseases to other wildlife, livestock and humans. Additionally, hogs may facilitate the spread of exotic plant… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District and Pasco County are working together to gather input needed to improve identification of flooding risks in the county.The information will be used to update area floodplain information and develop preliminary Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs). Most of the current FIRMs are 10 to 30 years old and are outdated because of natural and physical changes caused by land use, development and… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is extending a water shortage emergency authorization that allows Tampa Bay Water to withdraw additional water from the Alafia River because Tampa Bay Water cannot use the full storage capacity of the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir.As of Dec. 15, the reservoir only had about 3 billion gallons in storage. When full, the reservoir stores approximately 15 billion gallons of water. Over the summer rainy months, Tampa Bay… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District has revised and 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 executive order signed Thursday will allow the Authority to continue withdrawals from the Peace River at an increased rate as a means of meeting current water demand and storing additional water in its reservoir and two aquifer storage… Read more

Expansion will protect natural resources from rapid growthThe Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board approved a rule amendment on Tuesday that will expand the Northern Tampa Bay Water Use Caution Area (NTBWUCA) into the portions of Pasco and northeastern Hillsborough counties not currently in the WUCA to address increasing water use due to rapid growth and development in the area.In 1989, the Governing Board declared portions of northern… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District today declared a water shortage emergency for the city of Tampa’s main water supply. Drought conditions have caused an acute water shortage within the Hillsborough River Reservoir so emergency actions are necessary to protect public health, safety and welfare.The emergency order authorizes Tampa Bay Water, the region’s wholesale water… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board today approved a project that will reduce groundwater pumping and stormwater runoff at Parke Family Hydrofarm.The project involves building a half-acre tower hydroponic section. Tower hydroponics is a farming method that involves planting crops in containers and using drip irrigation to deliver water and nutrients to the center of the stacked containers so each plant’s roots are sufficiently saturated.… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District has completed a draft of an updated Regional Water Supply Plan that assesses projected water demands and identifies potential sources of water to meet those demands through the year 2025.The updated plan also addresses the need to sustain water resources and the related natural systems, and includes estimated costs for potential projects. The current plan was developed in 2001.The challenge will be meeting growing water supply… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District has completed a draft of an updated Regional Water Supply Plan that assesses projected water demands and identifies potential sources of water to meet those demands through the year 2025.The updated plan also addresses the need to sustain water resources and the related natural systems, and includes estimated costs for potential projects. The current plan was developed in 2001.The challenge will be meeting growing water supply… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District has reached an agreement with Leigh and Lynn Hampton and LSL Hampton Family Ltd. Partnership, LLP to purchase their property, including settlement costs, for $39,239,000 as part of the Lake Hancock Lake Level Modification Project.The Hampton�s property, which includes 1,177 acres, is located southwest of the intersection of Thornhill Road and Winter Lake Road and borders the northeastern shore of Lake Hancock. Once this… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board voted Tuesday to extendthe current Water Shortage Order, which restricts lawn watering throughout the District to one-day-per-week, until Nov. 30.The water shortage order, which was declared by the District’s Executive Director David L. Moore, went into effect Jan. 16 and was slated to expire July 31. It was… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is extending a water shortage emergency authorization that allows Tampa Bay Water to withdraw additional water from the Alafia River to continue to fill the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir.As of Sept. 15, the reservoir had about 11.2 billion gallons in storage. When full, the reservoir stores approximately 15 billion gallons of water.The executive order, which was scheduled to expire Sept. 30, has been extended through Dec… Read more

This property is situated on the Withlacoochee River and is the site of the Wysong-Coogler Dam.

  Gardenia Long, Watson Haynes II, Charles C. Scott and Lorraine Mayers at the Florida water management districts’ booth at the National Urban League Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Be loyal. Be a team player. Act right. Those are the golden rules that District Governing Board Chair Watson L. Haynes II learned early in his life from his mother, a woman with a third-grade education but a Ph.D. in character. The late Emma Haynes raised seven children… Read more

Hold Back The Rain     Gene Farley’s days are spent watching and listening for signs of trouble. Farley is the “structures guy,” otherwise known as the Structure Controls Supervisor, at the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Farley is the man who makes the decision when to open or close one of the 80 water conservation and flood control structures the District operates and maintains in the 16-county area of west-central Florida. While… Read more