The Drought: Water Management Policy Doesn’t Hold Water

It rained today. Mother Nature obviously didn’t hear the directive from the City of Coral Springs saying you are only allowed to water your landscaping once a week. She is so uncooperative sometimes with government agencies. This of course is driving   the public workers crazy who think they are the only ones that control the water supply.

“Our rules apply to everyone including  Mother Nature” said the chief of water management whomever that may be. “She needs to pay attention or we will fine her” he added.

According to the water management people it did rain confirming why the grass was wet, and explained why those rain droplets were on the cars.  However they were adamant about the fact that it rained in the wrong places.  My grass was not good enough for them. However a spot in the middle of Lake Okeechobee a few hundred miles from me was where they designated the “right spot” to be. Had these aliens from another planet been involved with say another agency, like homeland security, we would all be dead by now.

“Not in the right places” say the people that control whether or not we can water our lawns and keep our gardens from dying. However, the government agencies that control water are stacking up behind the ‘Drought’ cause without asking the right questions, as if it will never rain again in South Florida.

So here we are again with the local government agencies restricting the use of water that is so badly needed to irrigate the plants and vegetation that removes carbon dioxide from the air and brings about oxygen.  At the same time, as the plants die due to their imposed restrictions, they will surely invoke local city ordinances that force you to replace the dead trees, shrubs and grass.  These restrictions are to say the least stupid and to say the most typical of government agencies that may be run by idiots rather than sane individuals.  We have heard from no one  from the South Florida Water Management agency to tell us why there is a real need for these restrictions other than a phatom order telling us that we will be shot if we water our lawn on the wrong day. How can a day be wrong?  Tuesdays are bad, Saturdays are good? The same government official that is dictating the restrictions is probably the same idiot responsible for giving  money to the other idiot , Dr. Grey, in Colorado who is predicting the amount of hurricanes that will appear each season.  This is nothing but  another instance of government ‘idiocracy’ , a word that I made up which  means: a  bureaucracy run by idiots. ( I like making up words. Another one: Commucratic: What you get when you blend a Communistic system  with Democratic system.)  

For your information the enforcement of measures to reduce the level of consumption of ground water is baloney.

We are but a small part in the removal of water from the ecosystem of the everglades. Most of the water is either evaporated naturally due to the vastness of the everglades, or by the natural flow of water out to the sea, which amounts to millions of gallons every hour.  No one, not even the government, can stop this from happening. ( I like making up words. Another one is ‘commucracy That is , communism trying to look like a democracy.

There are three sources of water for irrigation in Coral Springs and South Florida.

One source is natural rain.  It always rains in South Florida during the summer months.  Hundreds of inches. It has never failed to happen because we are in something called a ‘TROPICAL CLIMATE’ (Please shout), surrounded by water and in the flow of natural air currents that constantly churn up Hurricanes. The water management people know this. That is why they actually lower the level of Lake Okeechobee before a hurricane is to hit.  However, they make mistakes often lowering the lake too much or too soon.  They are not rocket scientists.  Those guys are at NASA.

The second source of irrigation water  is ground water. This is the water under our houses about 30 to 50 feet in total depth that is constantly flowing to the sea from the everglades.  This water can be seen in our canals at natural levels, and when you dig a hole in Coral Springs you can see that the water table is about a few feet below the surface irrespective of whatever the government is telling you.  When you have a well or use the canal system , you are using this water. When you irrigate your lawn the water you are using either goes back into the ground, evaporates or gets consumed by the vegetation you are feeding.  The amount of evaporation depends on the air humidity.  The higher the humidity the less the evaporation. In South Florida, the humidity in the summer time is high. Evaporation is low.  Therefore there is little effect on the levels of the everglades.

The third source for most residents is the City of Coral Springs water. This H₂O comes from the Biscayne Aquifer located 180 Feet below the surface underneath layers of rock.  This is where we also get our drinking water. There are numerous wells in Coral Springs that all feed  the water purification plants. Over many years this aquifer fills up from seepage of the surface water. Any changes in surface water conditions in the short term rarely affect the amount of water that replenish this source. In fact the biggest threat to this supply is infiltration of seawater coming from the ocean.  When you use this water you are not lowering any water tables connected to the everglades. So for Coral Springs citizens using city water there should be no restrictions in its use.  However government cannot trust you to know the difference.

Water taken from sewage treatment plants is another source that our government prevents us from using.  This is called Grey water. It is completely odorless and in fact has a high nutritional value for plants. It can be sprayed over landscaping and even filtered and placed in the canal system with no pollution concerns.  However we are not using this. Instead, in the southern areas of Coral Springs the Coral Springs Improvement District  dumps it 1500 feet below the surface in deep salt caverns . Other waste treatment facilities like  Broward County’s plant on Sample Road dump the grey water directly into the ocean through a discharge pipe located two miles off shore.

The question of course is how do we sit back and let these incompetent government agencies dictate these restrictions to us without anyone complaining about it.  I think it is because very few people know what really is going on with the water and sewage management.  With little or no opposition, these organizations do what they please.

Once again., the citizens are suffering from poor management of government resources and being feed a lot of information that just doesn’t hold water.