"It's the bursting of a 'migration bubble,'" said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution think tank who analyzed the numbers.
A big part of Floridas economy is population growth. It's not great around here, but better than Michigan I suppose.
On the other hand we are pretty much out of water...
Drought, Desal Plant Woes Force More Groundwater Pumping
By Neil Johnson
Tampa Bay Online
updated 1:04 p.m. ET, Tues., March. 17, 2009
With rivers gurgling to a trickle and the desalination plant limping because of mechanical problems, water suppliers are turning up the pumps to tap groundwater at a rate not seen since 2002.
Last week the region's water supplier shut down the plant that treats river water. That happened as its massive reservoir in southern Hillsborough went dry, unable to provide another drop to the thirsty Tampa Bay region.
On Monday, Tampa Bay Water sent 213 million gallons of water to residents in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. Of that, about 198 million gallons came from the aquifer. The balance came from the utility's desalination plant.
Demands on groundwater will only grow as the state enters its driest, hottest months when water use peaks and a three-year drought continues.
By May, wells could be asked to provide around 210 million gallons a day with the bulk coming from 11 wellfields in northern Hillsborough and southern Pasco. Wellfields scattered over central and southern Hillsborough will also add groundwater to the supply.
That is if the desalination plant in Apollo Beach can get back to its capacity of 25 million gallons a day, said Alison Adams, senior manager with Tampa Bay Water, the utility that provides water for Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, St. Petersburg, Tampa and New Port Richey.
Mechanical problems have hamstrung the plant, cutting production to about 15 million gallons a day with repairs not expected to be done until at least the middle or April when a replacement transformer is supposed to arrive.
In January the company hired by Tampa Bay Water to run the plant took it off line for maintenance and discovered problems, including a blown transformer. In addition, workers found pumps - feeding water to the reverse osmosis membranes - needed work and each required shutting down part of the plant for five days.
And on Friday, a leak in the pipe carrying salt water to the plant forced it to shut down completely until Saturday afternoon.
The plant is designed to convert 40 million gallons of salt water a day into 25 million gallons of drinking water and about 14 million gallons of concentrated brine. It does that by forcing salt water through seven sets of ultra-fine membranes that removes the salt.
The blown transformer shut down one of those seven membrane sets. With only six operating, the plant can't run at full speed, especially when another membrane set is down for maintenance or cleaning.
"It's impossible to do 25 million gallons," Adams said.
Until the transformer arrives around the middle of April, the best the utility can expect is 16 million to 19 million gallons a day from the plant.
It also will take time to install the part and get the plant back to full capacity. Utility officials don't expect that until May, said Chuck Carden operations officer.
"We anticipate full production by May. If we can get it going sooner, we will," he said.
Until then, wellfields will have to carry the load.
In addition to the 213 million gallons Tampa Bay Water provided on Monday, the city of Tampa used its reservoir on the Hillsborough River and treated water stored underground to produce another 50 million gallons to its customers.
Despite ramping up the wellfields, residents won't run out of water. Wellfields for years provide far more water than they are being asked to do now. And there is not likely to be much impact on water bills. Well water is the less expensive than desalination or river water.
The last time Tampa Bay Water leaned so heavily on the wells was in 2002. That year, the utility started using rivers as a water source, siphoning flow from the Hillsborough and Alafia and bypass canal and relieving pumping pressure.
From 2003 through 2005, surface water was plentiful thanks to normal summer rains and hurricanes of 2004 and 2005.
Experts at the Southwest Florida Water Management District believe the current drought got its start in the summer of 2006 when rainfall dwindled, especially over inland parts of Hillsborough and Pasco that feed the two rivers.
During the last drought from 1998 through 2001, before the utility could use river water, the 11 wellfields in Pasco and Hillsborough averaged 240 million gallons a day.
The water management district estimates that rain in from 2006 through 2008 was more than 2 feet below normal.
This year has added to the rainfall deficit. Rain in January and February was about half the normal amount around the Tampa Bay area. |
