[firemed]

South Florida is experiencing one of the driest times in our history. The entire state is under some level of drought. That's why, beginning April 13, stronger mandatory water restrictions are being imposed throughout our 16 county area. A drought this widespread and severe has never happened in this region! We had some rain but we are still in a very bad drought.

http://my.sfwmd.gov/portal/page?_pag..._schema=PORTAL

[firemed]

here are some pictures of how bad it is.
http://www.sfwmd.gov/site/sub/gallery/gallery_drought_1/index.html (broken link)

http://www.sfwmd.gov/site/sub/gallery/gallery_drought_2/index.html (broken link)

[tallrick]

And yet there's no stopping the constant development in Florida.

[chisoxfan]

Keep an eye on the rainfall in May. Along with the fact that we need it, it could be an indicator of what kind of hurricane season we'll have in Florida. One of the former meteorologists for the National Weather Service was interviewed and said that South Florida has never been hit by a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher) in a year in which May was much rainier than normal. May '04 and '05 were drier than normal, as I recall, and brutal hurricane seasons followed.

[Jammie]

That's interesting. I had never heard that about the rain in May correlating with the intensity of the canes. The western part of my state has been in a drought for the past seven years. Hopefully it won't be eight years. Too bad the rain in the northeast wasn't spread around more evenly.

[floridamove2]

Its a drought but I still see the sprinklers on in the middle of the day on Del Prado Blvd. I guess the city of Cape Coral can do what ever.

[harry chickpea]

I'm sorry, but all of the gloom and doom in the media about the lack of water in Florida just makes me giggle. One rainfall we had last week was more than what California has had this ENTIRE YEAR - and this is the DRY season here.

The water managers intentionally keep the water level low in Oki, because 1. they don't want certain weeds to overtake the lake and spoil the recreational aspects of it, and 2. they are concerned that if it REALLY rained, the **** might not hold up, creating a public relations nightmare and claims of incompetence. Then, after lowering the level, they run around with their heads in their hands telling everyone "There just isn't enough water. What are we going to do? Stop watering your lawns and flushing your toilets! Panic, Panic!"

This area gets more water than just about anywhere in the country, except the Pacific Northwest and parts of the rainforest in Hawaii.

Get real guys. Admit that the real problem is that the wealthy landowners on the coast might have their sprinkling systems contaminated with salt water, and that the infrastructure can't keep up with the excessive speculative development that has been allowed because of political backslapping.

Wasn't it just a few months ago that developers wanted to move the no-build line in Dade County so they could build more new housing and shopping centers? And now this other face of the government wants to say there isn't enough water for the people already here? Hmmm, isn't that special?

Our house sits at least 12 miles from the ocean, and there are plenty of local canals where you can see the level of the groundwater that recharges the aquifer and supplies the local lawn irrigation pumps. I'd invite these guys to come take a look at those canals, and note that the water levels are nowhere near as low as they were the last time they were crying about the lack of rain. But then that would assume they had common sense and could grasp the basic concepts of wet season dry season. I'm seeing that the water in the canals is down maybe a foot to eighteen inches in general, which is normal or even a little high for this time of year.

If this government had to deliver air to citizens, I swear that it would claim there was a shortage and that people had to limit their breathing to alternate days of the week!

Oh, and in case you were wondering what nasty word I used that was bleeped out, it is a synonym for levee, but the real word is what the little dutch boy stuck his finger into to prevent a flood. (The first letter is D and it rhymes with Mike.) Sometimes I wonder about political correctness and our overreaction to words. Othertimes I don't give a larger embankment holding back water.