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The Southwest Florida Water Management District will be conducting “controlled, prescribed burns” during January and February on two District sites in Hillsborough County. The sites are the Alafia Reservoir property and the Lower Hillsborough property.The District’s Alafia Reservoir property is approximately 3 miles southwest of Lithia. Approximately 150 acres of land will be burned in small, manageable units.The Lower Hillsborough property is… Read more

Setting prescribed fires in controlled settings can reduce the risk of wildfires burning out of control, as many Floridians witnessed during the state’s wildfire emergency last year. That’s why the… Read more

Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) officials are monitoring Hurricane Michael and have raised the activation level of the District’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to Level 2. The EOC provides direction regarding District activities before, during, and after an emergency weather event. The District is continuing to monitor potential impacts from the storm that could occur throughout its 16-county region. Since we are at the end of the four-… Read more

Pirate Parrot, Pittsburg Pirates mascot, gives Governing Board Chairman Todd Pressman the ball after Pressman threw out the first pitch. The District teamed up with the Pittsburgh Pirates to promote water conservation, dubbing the March 8 spring training game against the New York Yankees as Water Matters Day. The District gave the first 2,000 fans a free baseball-shaped shower timer, and Governing Board Chairman Todd Pressman threw out the first pitch.… Read more

Volunteers and District staff are pulling together to help keep public lands clean from the uplands to the coastline. They were scheduled to take part in the 17th annual National Public Lands Day and the 25th annual International Coastal Cleanup Day. Both days were recognized on Sept. 25 this year, and volunteers across the country and around the world worked to clean up public lands and coastal waterways. The District owns and manages approximately 436,000 acres of… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) Governing Board recognized Earnie Olsen of Citrus County as one of this year’s springs community partners at its May Governing Board meeting. Olsen is the supervisor of the Marine Science Station in Crystal River and has taught at the center since 2008. Olsen and his staff lead daily field trips, taking Citrus County students by… Read more

From an early age, Senior Environmental Scientist Philip Rhinesmith knew he wanted to work in natural resources.  Through an independent study course at Saint Leo University, Philip worked in the District’s Environmental section (now Springs & Environmental Flows). A year later, Philip returned to the District as a co-op student and moved to a full-time chemist position in 1987.  One of Philip’s first projects was collecting wetland and vegetation… Read more

Emergency Operations Center at Level 2 Activation Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) officials are monitoring Hurricane Irma and have raised the activation level of the District's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to Level 2. The EOC provides direction regarding District activities during an emergency weather event. The District is continuing to monitor potential impacts from the storm that could occur throughout its 16-county… Read more

At its July 26 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Alafia River Basin Board adopted a fiscal year 2008 (FY2008) millage rate of 0.2163 mill, which is .0237 less than the current fiscal year. This reduction is in accordance with the tax reduction mandated by the Florida Legislature.The FY2008 millage rate has been set equal to 97 percent of the rolled-back rate in compliance with House Bill 1B, the tax reform legislation signed into law by Gov.… Read more

Hillsborough and Pinellas County high schools participated in the 2017 Tampa Bay Regional Envirothon. This annual environmental education program allows students to use critical thinking skills to investigate and solve environmental issues in the field through hands-on activities.  The District has sponsored the program since it began in 1997 by providing funding to offset the cost of transporting students to the competition. Further support is given by supplying… Read more

Emergency Operations Center at Level 2 Activation - All District Offices Closed Thursday AfternoonSouthwest Florida Water Management District officials are monitoring Tropical Storm Hermine and have raised the activation level of the District's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to Level 2. The EOC provides direction and controls District activities during an emergency weather event.The District is continuing to monitor potential flooding that could occur throughout our 16-… Read more

Due to the deteriorating weather conditions of Tropical Storm Hermine, the Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) is cancelling tomorrow's public meeting regarding flood prone areas in Sumter County. The meeting has been rescheduled to Thursday, September 22 beginning at 4:00 p.m. The meeting will take place at the Bushnell Community Center, located at 407 E. Belt Avenue in Bushnell. The purpose of the meeting is to gather information to improve… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District recommends homeowners with inground irrigation systems observe “Smart Irrigation Month” by taking a moment to tune up their irrigation systems and check their rain shut-off devices.Each year the Irrigation Association designates July as “Smart Irrigation Month” to raise awareness about how residents can improve irrigation efficiency, conserve water, lower their water bills, reduce runoff and eliminate… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is joining with the Science and Environment Council (SEC) to celebrate Sarasota’s watersheds and promote watershed awareness by declaring Oct. 13 through 19 as “Watershed Awareness Week.”The District’s Manasota Basin Board is co-sponsoring Watershed Awareness Week in an effort to foster good watershed stewardship.The SEC is a group of nonprofit and government organizations that operate to support… Read more

Who: Suncoast Earth Force, Southwest Florida Water Management District staff, educators and approximately 600 students from Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas countiesWhat: 8th Annual Youth SummitThe annual summit is sponsored by Suncoast Earth Force, a Tampa Bay-area nonprofit educational organization.The summit brings together hundreds of youth, educators and community partners who have been involved in Earth Force programs during the past year. It is a day of education and… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) awarded $97,640.28 in grants to 43 educators within the District as part of the Splash! school grant program. The program provides up to $3,000 per school to enhance student knowledge of freshwater resources in grades K-12. Splash! grants encourage hands-on student learning through STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities as well as engagement of the greater school community… Read more

Pinellas County waters saw an overall increase of 150 acres in seagrass coverage, according to recently released results from the District’s 2014 seagrass mapping study. Pinellas County waters — St. Joseph Sound, Clearwater Harbor North and Clearwater Harbor South – now collectively support 17,334 acres of seagrass beds.  The District maps seagrass in five estuaries spanning the five coastal counties of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board recently adopted minimum flows for portions of the Alafia and Myakka rivers, along with minimum and guidance levels for five lakes.The 5 lakes include: Lakes Allen, Harvey and Virginia in Hillsborough County; Lake June-In-Winter in Highlands County; and Lake Parker in Polk County.A minimum flow or level is the limit at which further water withdrawals will cause significant harm to the water resources and… Read more

The "Southwest Florida Water Management District ":http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/ (District) is gathering information to improve the identification of flood prone areas in Polk County's Upper Peace River-Homeland watershed. Residents living in the watershed are invited to attend an open house on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 beginning at 4:00 p.m. The meeting will take place at the Bartow Public Library on the 2nd floor, located at 2150 S. Broadway Ave. in Bartow.District… Read more

The "Southwest Florida Water Management District ":http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/ (District) is gathering information to improve identification of flood prone areas in Highlands County's Lake Placid watershed. Residents living in Lake Placid watershed are invited to attend an open house on Thursday, September 11 beginning at 4:00 p.m. The meeting will take place at Bert J. Harris, Jr. Agricultural Center, located at 4509 George Blvd. in Sebring.District representatives will… Read more