We live in a swamp surrounded by water and there is an underground river that stretches from Georgia all the way to the Everglades and it is wider than the Florida peninsula itself stretching out into the gulf of America and the Atlantic Ocean and then on top it all of, it rains 48 inches a year and the best of the government leaders can come up with is “water restrictions”?
San Diego, CA, is so successful at desalinization they're selling water to surrounding communities. Florida has water restrictions.
Israel has gone from a water-scarce region to a water-surplus region. They use reclaimed water for agriculture and landscaping. Florida has water restrictions.
I remember the once-a-week watering restrictions in 2007 that destroyed acres of urban turf. Now, almost 20 years later, despite being a water-rich state, nothing much has changed. Instead of innovation, we get water restrictions. Instead of solutions, we get water restrictions.
Back in 2007, I did a lot of research into water restrictions. I discovered the actual problem is not the lack of water, but the lack of water treatment plants to convert water into potable water. It wasn’t a shortage of groundwater or wastewater; it was a shortage of water treatment plants.
I asked, “Why do we restrict wastewater (AKA reclaimed water) for landscape use – which is the best way to dispose of wastewater?” No answer.
I asked, “Why restrict well water when there is plenty to go around?” No answer.
I asked, “Why restrict surface water (lakes and ponds), knowing that there will be torrential rainfall to refill them? No answer.
I asked, “Why not restrict the use of potable water for landscape use?” No answer.
Then she offered, “The reason the restrictions are for every water source is ease of education, ease of enforcement. If no one can water, then it is easier to deploy and police.”
Ease of education and ease of enforcement – the softer, easier way for the bureaucrat – pain and suffering for the homeowner.
Water restrictions are a lot easier than designing, planning, and building water treatment plants, desalination plants, or coming up with innovative solutions. Easier to just declare “We are in a drought; water use is restricted. And with no real push back against water restriction from a compliant population, the bureaucrats will continue to take the softer easier way.
And I think that is the problem - no one is pushing back. We need to tell the bureaucrats to get off their lazy asses and do something about the problem other than water restrictions.
