Ellen Peterson has lived in Florida for many years and this is the first year her well went dry. (Photo by Arthur Cooper)
Droughts are nothing new for the Western US.
But lately, even some parts of the country
surrounded by water have gotten a taste of
droughts. Rebecca Williams reports as our
population grows, some experts say we’re going
to have to learn to live with less water:
Transcript
Droughts are nothing new for the Western US.
But lately, even some parts of the country
surrounded by water have gotten a taste of
droughts. Rebecca Williams reports as our
population grows, some experts say we’re going
to have to learn to live with less water:
(sound of birds)
Even in swampy, muggy Florida, people have been running out of water.
“This is the first time the well has ever gone dry.”
Ellen Peterson remembers water gushing out of her artesian well when she’d hook up the hose. These days she’s stuck with rusty water from her shallow well.
(sound of faucet turning on)
“Now if I let that sit it would settle out orange.”
We visited Peterson at the tail end of this year’s dry season. In the weeks since then, Florida’s been pummeled by major thunderstorms. But Florida water managers say it’s too early to know how much the rain will help.
This was the driest dry season Florida’s felt in more than 75 years. And it’s the third year in a row of serious drought. That’s meant some changes for people who live here.
Many cities put rules in place that limit watering lawns to one or two days a week. One woman actually ended up with a warrant out for her arrest after she watered her lawn on the wrong day and didn’t pay the fine.
Some cities in Florida are talking about adding a drought surcharge to bills for people using the most water.
Ellen Peterson says local water managers have even been capping wells in her area. Peterson may be 85 years old, but that didn’t stop her from telling her local official to back off.
“They told me they were going to cap my well and I threatened the guy with his life if he ever came back. (laughs) It hasn’t happened yet.”
So it’s not such an easy sell to get people to cut back on water.
(sound at a lake)
But that’s Gary Ritter’s job. He’s a water manager in the Lake Okeechobee area. It’s a giant lake – 35 miles wide – and it’s nicknamed the liquid heart of the Everglades. The lake level is 2.5 feet below average.
“For water to get to the Everglades it has to come from Lake Okeechobee. Now we have a juggling act as to how we manage this water in the system you know for multiple users for the water supply and for the ecosystem.”
The lake’s the center of a huge tug of war. Farmers and cities need the water, and the lake’s also a big tourist draw. And the Everglades are in major trouble – mostly because the water flow to this fragile area has been cut off by people.
Some experts say these kinds of conflicts are just going to get worse.
Peter Gleick is president of the Pacific Institute. It’s a nonpartisan group that studies water issues.
“Places we didn’t think were vulnerable to water shortages in the past are now increasingly vulnerable. As our population continues to grow and our water supply doesn’t. As more and more people try to share that fixed resource there’s going to be growing competition for water and more natural and manmade drought.”
And he says we just don’t know what’s in store for us as the climate changes because of global warming. We could get a one-two punch.
First, from weird new weather patterns. And second, from more and more people moving into dry areas.
People have expected these kinds of problems for cities in the desert Southwest. But nobody really saw this coming in the Southeast.
Peter Gleick says even if you live in a place surrounded by water now, you shouldn’t expect to always have plenty of it.
For The Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.