Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
WATER FACTS
Putting wasting water in perspective, one leaky faucet
adds up. That one drip is a fraction of a milliliter, but in
one day a dripping faucet translates to approximately
259,200 drips, or 17 gallons of water a day and 6,248 gal-
lons a year, according to the USGS's Drip Accumulator
(http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sc4.html)!
Too Much Equals Too Little
Plenty of rainfall doesn't necessarily solve an area's water sup-
ply problems, either. Look at central Florida. In the mid-1970s,
the state had tons of water but was running out at the same time,
says architect and planner Daniel E. Williams, who participated in
a study called “The Green Swamp” that dealt with water supplies in
central Florida. The problem, says Williams, was (and still is) that
despite the area's huge amount of precipitation, the aquifers were
built over, and the swamps were drained to accommodate growth.
These areas built themselves out of a sustainable water system.
“There are places like Tampa, for example, that already are desali-
nating for potable water,” says Williams. “This in a place that gets
fi fty to sixty inches of rainfall a year. It's just really bad planning and
a misunderstanding of the water system that's put the area in a posi-
tion (where) they're now looking for water.”
In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the Tampa Bay area, includ-
ing Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and several municipalities,
including the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, looked to water
well fi elds, primarily in northwest Hillsborough and Pasco coun-
ties, to supply the area's water. But a lot of negative environmen-
tal impact occurred with a number of those wells, says Roger W.
Sims, water resources, environmental, and land-use law partner
with Holland & Knight, in Orlando, Florida. The notorious Tampa
Bay Water Wars ensued. A lot of money and time was wasted fi ght-
ing over who had the right to the water, whose fault the problems
were, and more. Ultimately, the bickering parties stopped fi ght-
ing and formed the Tampa Bay Partnership. “That's how Tampa
Bay Water was created and the emphasis was shifted from fi ghting
