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The Sumter County Extension Service Office will receive a $5,000 grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s 2006 Community Education Grant Program.The Sumter County Extension Service Office was awarded the funds for the Lake Panasofkee Preservation Celebration, which will provide more than 500 residents with the opportunity to learn more about the history, restoration and future preservation of Lake Panasofkee. This one-day event will include a… Read more

DeSoto County will receive a $3,000 grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s 2006 Community Education Grant Program.DeSoto County was awarded the funds for Water Education Day. This public event will focus on the personal connection of 10,400 low socio-economic DeSoto County residents to the watershed. Participants will be asked about their current knowledge before attending an informal talk about the Peace River watershed and a native plant… Read more

Five Charlotte County teachers are among the record number of educators who applied for and received Splash! mini-grants through the Southwest Florida Water Management District.This year the District awarded Splash! mini-grants to 209 educators totaling more than $413,000. That’s 72 more grant recipients than last year.Mary Margaret Hull, lead communications coordinator, attributes the increase in awardees to an increase in promotion among the District’s school… Read more

Lakeland restaurants can conserve water with the help of two programs offered by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the City of Lakeland Water Utilities.The District’s Water Program for Restaurant Outreach (Water PRO) and Lakeland’s pre-rinse spray valve replacement program are designed to help restaurants conserve water through training and retrofitting.Water PROWater PRO is a free program that helps restaurants conserve water by educating staff… Read more

Families coming out to see the Friday Extra Concert series this week will be treated to some extra entertainment before the main event.Stages Productions will perform “Aesop’s Aqua Adventures,” a live, interactive water resource and conservation theatre presentation, at 6:15 p.m. this Friday, April 29 at Lowry Park band shell. A concert featuring Molten Mike and Freight Train Annie will follow the performance.Updating several classic fables, “Aesop… Read more

Todd Pressman was elected Wednesday by his peers to serve as Governing Board chair of the Southwest Florida Water Management District.Other Governing Board officers selected today include Ronald E. Oakley, vice chair; Hugh Gramling, secretary; and Sallie Parks, treasurer.Chair Todd PressmanPressman of Oldsmar was first appointed to the Governing Board in April 2005, and is also co-chair ex officio of the District’s Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board. He has also served… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board is dedicating an additional $448,340 to clean up debris related to Hurricane Charley.The District had previously approved $472,340 to clean up debris in the Peace Creek Drainage Canal in Polk County.The latest funding will be used to remove Hurricane Charley-related debris from Flint Creek in Hillsborough County and portions of the Peace River.The total cost of the Flint Creek cleanup project is $220,000… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board Tuesday approved an agreement between the District and the St. Johns River Water Management District that will provide uniform lawn and landscape irrigation measures throughout unincorporated Marion County. The measures address both drought and normal conditions.Marion County is divided between the two water management districts, with the boundary roughly being Interstate 75. The two agencies currently… Read more

Summer rains not enough for water resources to fully recoverThe Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board voted today to extend the current Water Shortage Order, which restricts lawn watering throughout the District to one-day-per-week, through Feb. 27, 2009.The Governing Board chose to extend the term of the water shortage order because the region is still impacted by the two-year drought and portions of the District did not receive enough rain… Read more

The Southwest Florida Management District and the City of St. Petersburg are working together on three projects that will improve drainage in four St. Petersburg neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are Palmetto Park, Norwood Heights, Ponce De Leon and Jungle Terrace.All of the projects are part of a 1994 stormwater management master plan developed by the city. During heavy rain the neighborhoods experience street flooding because the existing drainage systems are outdated and… Read more

Florida may soon have a new 5,000-acre state park in the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve in Polk County.On April 24 the Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board will consider a joint acquisition of the property known as the Overstreet parcel with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and Polk County.As the lead agency, District staff negotiated a price of approximately $53,700,000 for the 5,118-acre property. Under the agreement, Polk… Read more

Peace River Elementary students in Charlotte County will study how rain barrels save water thanks to a "Splash! school grant":http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/education/schoolgrants/ from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.The goal of the Splash! school grant program is to provide teachers with funding to enhance student knowledge of topics that meet the District's core mission and teach students about their local watersheds, water conservation, quality and supply… Read more

_The Extended Order Allows Extra Lawn Watering Day, If Needed_The "Southwest Florida Water Management District's Governing Board ":http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/about/governingboard/voted today to extend the Phase II Water Shortage in the Tampa Bay; however, the extended order will allow up to two watering days per week. In December 2013, the Governing Board enacted Phase II restrictions for lawn watering throughout Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, which allowed… Read more

Charlotte County Utilities residential customers are now eligible to participate in a toilet rebate program aimed at conserving water.The toilet rebate program, which is cooperatively funded by the county and the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Peace River Basin Board, offers rebates to replace high-volume toilets with water-efficient, low-flow toilets or high-efficiency toilets. Low-flow toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush or less while high-efficiency toilets… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board today approved a project to reduce groundwater pumping up to 197,000 gallons per day (gpd) at a Charlotte County citrus and cattle company.The Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems (FARMS) program is a cost-share reimbursement program that conserves water and protects water quality.The FARMS project, proposed by Diner Citrus & Cattle Company and OSS, LLC, is located upstream from the City of… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is teaming up with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (FDEP) Department of Parks and Recreation on a restoration project aimed at cleaning up the Homosassa Springs headspring, located within the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, and the Blue Waters area of the Homosassa River.The project will remove 25,000 cubic yards of accumulated sediment, which causes reduced water quality when the sediment is… Read more

Left: Bruce Wirth, a District deputy executive director; Sallie Parks, Governing Board member and co-chair ex offico of the Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board; and Cheryl Johnson, secretary of the Alafia River Basin Board, helped plant a tree to celebrate the completion of the restoration project. Center: Dozens of volunteers planted marsh grass to help complete the restoration project. Right: Many volunteers brought their children to help at the volunteer planting.… Read more

The "Southwest Florida Water Management District's(Southwest Florida Water Management District)":/ "Governing Board(Governing Board)":/about/governingboard Tuesday modified a water use permit for the City of Tarpon Springs.The modified permit increases the permitted quantities for the city. The previous annual average permitted quantity was 1.38 million gallons of water per day. The new permitted quantity is 4.2 million gallons per day.The increased quantities will allow the… Read more

Two Charlotte County projects expected to reach up to 23,000 people were recently awarded Community Education Grants from the "Southwest Florida Water Management District(Southwest Florida Water Management District)":/.The overall goal of the Community Education Grant program is to actively engage adults in water-related issues including conservation, protection and preservation. Funded by the "District's Basin Boards(Basin Boards)":/about/basinboards/, the program is… Read more

A Firm Basis Last year’s very active hurricane season, complete with above-normal rainfall, reminded Floridians about the importance of knowing exactly where the state’s floodplains lie. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), flooding is responsible for more damage and economic loss in the United States than any other natural disaster. In fact, flooding caused more than 900 deaths and more than $55 billion in damages nationwide from fiscal year (… Read more