CRISIS SITUATION!!!
What I mean when I say: "State of the art thinking and design" is thinking ahead. I want to deliver a quality job that will last for years. One that will be easy to keep beautiful with little effort from (you) the homeowner. But most importantly to protect your investment dollars from the inevitable. Always look at landscaping your property as an investment ...because it is! Throwing a few plants in the ground and spreading mulch around it or installing large areas of sod without a plan is like burning money.
Below is a research study I have done to show just how much changes in the climate have impacted our environment. Landscape designers like myself have a duty to notice these changes and design with the times. Unfortunately, not everyone in this industry feels as strongly as I do on this issue. If during a consultation (free estimate) I try to talk you out of sodding your entire yard, don't be alarmed ...this is why.
The article below was in print in the St. Petersburg Times on November 11, 2008.
If you want to read the article - Just click on the thumbnails below and a new window will open. Hover your cursor over the image and a box will appear then click on the box to enlarge the image.
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This problem isn't new to Floridians ...it has been a growing problem for some time now.
Water levels reach crisis as Florida's drought drags on
May 2001
U.S. Water News Online
MIAMI -- For three straight years, the Florida formula has been the same: Too many people, not enough raindrops.
Everglades marshes have turned into mud flats. Over pumped wells in the Tampa Bay area have sucked nearby lakes and wetlands dry. So much salt has intruded on depleted well fields in parts of southwest Florida that notices have been sent out warning people on low-sodium diets not to drink the water.
Already it's being called a crisis. It could have the makings of a disaster.
``It's going to get worse,'' warned Gov. Jeb Bush, who has taped a series of ads urging Floridians to conserve water. ``It's not going to get better for the next four or five months.''
That pessimism is shared by orange farmers who question whether there will be enough water to produce their next crop, and homeowners on the edge of tinder-dry forests who wonder whether wildfires will allow them to get out at all.
With rainfall 21 inches below normal over the past three years, Florida is by far the nation's driest state, with all but its Panhandle in extreme drought. And there are few signs the situation will turn around anytime soon.
Even mighty Lake Okeechobee, South Florida's backup water supply, is 4 feet below normal and there may not be enough water in the next few months for normal releases into the groundwater aquifer to prevent saltwater intrusion.
``It's almost like jumping out of a plane without a backup parachute,'' said Tommy Strowd, operations director for the South Florida Water Management District.
If the drought persists through the traditional summer rainy season, a state emergency plan calls for leasing portable reverse-osmosis plants and shipping water to parched cities and towns in tankers.
The Salvation Army is storing 70,000 gallons of bottled water in a Tampa warehouse for firefighters to drink and as a short-term solution in case a large number of wells go dry.
Water officials hope it never gets to that. But they acknowledge that Florida's booming population -- nearly 16 million according to the last census -- makes drought recovery tough. From 1970 to 1995, the most recent year for which statistics are available, water use increased 30 percent to 7.2 billion gallons a day.
``The problems are too many human beings and too many demands on the water,'' said state climatologist Jim O'Brien at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
In the Tampa Bay area, the regional utility is over pumping its well fields north of Tampa because the city's primary water source -- the Hillsborough River -- is reduced to a trickle and too low to meet demands.
``The place is being turned into a desert,'' said Gilliam Clarke, who has lived next to a well field in Pasco County for 11 years. ``Sinkholes are opening up that are running out from the well fields.''
In Bonita Springs, about 150 miles south of Tampa, Diana and Greg Holton have seen canals dry up in the neighborhood where they've lived for 18 years. They're concerned their home on the fringe of a forest would be exposed to drought-driven wildfires and wildlife.
``We see gators coming up over the road looking for water,'' Diana Holton said.
In the nearby farming town of Immokalee, citrus grove manager John Hoffman worries he'll lose part of his orange crop that's used for juice. He hopes for rain as the water table drops closer to his water well pumps located 140 feet below ground.
He points to a tree which bears new fruit the color and size of peas. Hoffman said without enough water they won't make it to next spring.
``The day our pumps go dry we can't give them any water,'' he said.
Residents from Tampa south to Naples, Orlando, and South Florida have been hit with severe water restrictions as officials try to stretch the dwindling water supply.
Homeowners are allowed to water their lawns on only two designated days for four hours each day, with the Tampa Bay area limited to once-a-week watering. The rules also mean less irrigation for farmers around Lake Okeechobee.
Even with the restrictions, water managers complain most counties have failed to cut water consumption by the 30 percent goal.
So far, customers haven't had to pay more for their water. But the Tampa Bay area was ordered in late March to cut water use 5 percent over last year. One method could be higher rates for the biggest water users.
Long-term solutions to try to ease a future water crunch are on the horizon. Cities in southwest Florida are building reverse osmosis and desalinization plants, while South Florida is banking on the $7.8 billion Everglades restoration plan, which is intended to conserve fresh water that now flows into the Atlantic.
But by far the most ambitious approach is a plan moving through Florida's Legislature that would allow untreated wastewater to be pumped deep underground into ``aquifer storage and recovery'' wells.
Supporters say the technology is proven safe and will help South Florida meet its water demands. But environmentalists contend the untreated water could contaminate the freshwater above. They also say officials don't have alternative storage planned if the system doesn't work.
Climatologists say the state will need a busy tropical storm season followed by a wetter-than-normal dry season to get relief from the drought. The rainy season lasts from June 1 to November 30, but is forecast to start later than usual this year.
Heavy rains are needed to recharge the aquifer and the belt of lakes in central Florida that feeds Lake Okeechobee.
If that doesn't happen, the lake will be even lower when the next dry season starts in November, said Strowd, the water district operations director in South Florida. ``It's possible we could be in worse shape next year.''
Unfiltered
The truth about water in Florida.
by Cynthia Barnett
Published 8/1/2005 in Florida Trend
Feel free to do your own research. It's no secret ...we are in a crisis situation! As recent as November of 2008 a ban on sod replacement was put in place to save this priceless resource! Do your part to save, install rain switches on your irrigation systems, don't water during the hottest part of the day, clean your sprinkler heads and check them often for peak performance, and plan a landscape design that will use less water!!!
"Please take the time to view this website in it's entirety. If you are looking to save money and have a beautiful landscape for the years to come, you will find it worthwhile". Use the links below to navigate ...and welcome to Paradise! Shaun Sadree/ The Landscape Artist |
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