TAMPA, Fla. – The Southwest Florida Water Management District is putting counties and homeowners on notice by issuing a phase one water shortage.
What we know:
It does not mean restrictions are happening now, but it’s putting it on our radar as the rainy season ends, and we head into our dry season.
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The district said now is the time to really pay attention to our water usage.
“This is a good time to revisit taking a look at your irrigation system,” Michelle Hopkins, the Regulation Division Director of the Southwest Florida Water Management District said. “Making sure you don’t have any leaks, or pipes or valves that need replacing.”
The phase one water shortage doesn’t mean restrictions, yet.
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She explained, “We’ve moved beyond the rain we received last year in the different hurricane events, and have seen now we’re operating under the deficit moving into dry season.”
The backstory:
She added the lack of tropical systems and lower rainfall amounts during the rainy season play a factor in the shortage.
“The normal rainfall we would have seen through those rainy months we didn’t have,” Hopkins explained.
Dig deeper:
For the first time since 2015, no hurricanes made landfall in the United States.
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While that’s a success, FOX 13 Chief Meteorologist Paul Dellegatto said it comes at a price.
“As bad as hurricanes and tropical storms are, there are some benefits,” Dellegatto explained. “Especially a weak tropical storm can bring us much needed rainfall.”
He explained that going into the dry season, there’s not a lot of room to make up that deficit.
He said, “If you’re in October and November below average, the prospects of fixing that anytime soon is pretty much zero.”
And that could set up for an active brush fire season.
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“In March, April and May it can cause all kinds of issues,” he added. “Wildfires are a big problem here in the Spring, and we could be heading in that direction.”
What’s next:
For now, as we watch and wait, the water management district will too, while planning for the long term.
“These drier conditions are short term,” Hopkins said. “We just need to monitor them and adapt to them throughout the wet and dry seasons throughout the year and continue the long-term planning we have in place.”
The water shortage runs from December 1 until July 1 in all of our counties.
If they do move into phase two, that could mean watering restrictions.
The Source: FOX 13 gathered this information from an interview with the Southwest Florida Water Management District as well as an interview with Chief Meteorologist Paul Dellegatto about the lack of rain this rainy season.