According to the Natural Resources Defense Council's recent study, Florida is one of 14 states predicted to face "high risk" water shortages by the year 2050. The state's water is primarily drawn from the Floridan Aquifer as well as from the St. Johns River, the Suwannee River, and the Ocklawaha River. Florida's regional water conflicts stem primarily from the fact that the majority of the fresh water supply is found in the rural north, while the bulk of the population, and therefore water consumption, resides in the south. Metropolitan municipalities in central and south Florida have neared their aquifer extraction limit of 650 million US gallons (2,500,000 m3) per day, leading to the search for new, extra-regional sources.
North-South water conflict
Background In 2003, a committee predominantly composed of real estate developers was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to solve Florida's water disparity. Members were selected from the lobby group Council of 100 and in a 2003 report proposed "a system that enables water distribution from water-rich areas to water-poor areas," or the transfer of water through pipelines from the state's northern regions to its more developed and drier southern cities. The Suwannee river region was declared by committee member Lee Arnold to be "sitting in the Saudi Arabia of water." Representatives, citizens, and groups, such as the Florida Wildlife Federation, across the state argued that Governor Bush curb development in the south as opposed to further contributing to the water imbalance and restricting municipal water use even more. Half the state's fresh water is consumed by South Florida, which includes Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County as well as the majority of the state's agricultural land, golf courses, and swimming pools. Legally, water in Florida is owned by the state, with five water management districts overseeing its regional use and distribution. State law allows the transfer of water from one region to another, but it stipulates this action as a region's last resort.
Resolution The council's report offered an incentive for northern regions to transfer water south, suggesting that excess supply may be sold for profit. However, Floridians responded with slogans such as "Our water is not for sale!" Ultimately, more than 30 of the state's counties passed resolutions against the proposal, citing various concerns including overpopulation, uncontrolled development, sink holes, spring depletion, and salinization of groundwater supplies. As a result of the public's negative reaction towards the water-transfer proposal, Governor Bush rejected the Council's report. Instead, millions of dollars have been allocated to water development projects. The South Florida Water Management District plans to restore parts of the Everglades to ensure a continual water supply for its region.
Tampa Bay conflict The Tampa Bay water war is a conflict between Hillsborough County, Pasco County, Pinellas County, New Port Richey, St. Petersburg, and Tampa that has been going on since the 1970s over water supply. The Southwest Florida Water Management District is another key player. Created in 1961, it is a district in charge of 10,000 square miles (26,000 km2) over 16 counties; it has the responsibility to meet the water needs of all water users while additionally handling water resources efficiently. The West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority was created to handle the water efficiently.
History By the early 1990s, the Tampa Bay area had failed to effectively collaborate on sharing their water resources. Eleven regional groundwater facilities serve nearly 90% of the water demand for the Tampa Bay Area. By legislative acts, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties were required to work together collectively on a regional water system that would be more effective for using their water in a more environmentally safe and productive way. The group that was formed is West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority. Conflict arose over pumping rights as seen with Pinellas County continuing to purchase wells in Pasco County, and therefore using water before Pasco County inhabitants used their County's water. This also displayed the issue that water was owned traditionally by the land owners and permission was needed to use ground and surface water from the areas. Landowners were having major problems with the new sharing of sources and caused new litigation problems. A solution was made in 1991 when Pasco County was awarded the right to use their water first while allowing Pinellas County unlimited access to two well fields. Pinellas County continued to cause conflict by refusing to fund alternative water sources and prevented the development of such innovations. This caused further litigation between West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority and Southwest Florida Water Management District from 1994 to 1998 that resulted in zero progress for development in alternatives. The current Tampa Bay Water company cites in its history that the main reason behind zero development within the WCRWSA was that its members were unequally in control of water facilities, thus causing no unification on who was developing alternatives. With the combined problems of property impacts cited by homeowners, Pinellas County funded a campaign to advertise that the water scarcity issues were from drought not overpumping of aquifers, which was suspected of them. The solution to these litigation battles was the Florida Legislature demanding restructuring of the institutions at play and West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority became Tampa Bay Water by the Northern Tampa Bay New Water Supply and Ground Water Withdrawal Reduction Agreement in 1997. They would receive funding from the Southwest Florida Water Management District in order to research and develop new water sourcing alternatives.
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