A Times Editorial

Wishy-washy about water

The Hernando County Commission soon will have an opportunity to correct the mistake it made more than a year ago. This time around, the board should show more commitment and foresight.

After suffering the results of an extended and severe drought, the Southwest Florida Water Management District ordered Hernando and the 15 other counties in its region to cut back from twice- to once-a-week watering in April 2000. After enduring those restrictions for more than a year and a half, Swiftmud lifted the ban for Hernando and a few other counties where aquifer levels had been replenished.

Recognizing the need to conserve water, the public had adapted to the once-a-week limit with relative ease. The County Commission could have left the schedule in place, but it hastily opted to return to the twice-a-week schedule, while also suggesting -- with no proof -- that Swiftmud had exaggerated the water crisis all along.

Now Mother Nature has blessed our area with an abundance of rain. According to a report by staff writer Dan DeWitt in Sunday's Times, groundwater levels have risen to the middle of the normal range, with Hernando County having received 10 more inches of rain than normal in 2002. A whopping 12 inches of that came in December with the onset of El Nino, a cyclical tropical weather pattern.

Yet on Jan. 28, the commission will consider cutting back to the once-a-week schedule. The motivation for doing so is not the conservation of this essential resource, but rather the distribution of it.

County Utilities and Franchise Director Chuck Lewis is going to ask commissioners to limit lawn watering because of ongoing problems with water pressure in Florida Water Services' pipes. As the El Nino rains subside and we enter the traditionally dry season, more people will turn on their sprinklers, creating a demand that Florida Water's system cannot adequately meet, according to Lewis.

That is a good reason for returning to the once-a-week schedule, but it is not the best one. The commission's primary objective should be to conserve water now so that the effects of the next drought -- and there most certainly will be one -- will not be so severe.

That's the farsighted, prudent approach the commission should have stuck with in 2001. It is easier on both the water supply and consumers to not tinker with the schedule once it is in place. People must have confidence that the rulemakers know what they're talking about. But every time the commission changes the rules, it creates confusion and instills doubt and resentment in residents, who must believe warnings about water shortages are completely credible.

Many residents have learned the importance of planting grass and plants that need less water. Government could do more to work with commercial landscapers to further that educational process, just as it could step up enforcement of watering rules.

Hernando County is in a building boom; not since the late 1980s has there been such residential and commercial growth. It stands to reason that the demand for water will increase exponentially. The commission should do all it can to stay ahead of that curve.

Approving Lewis' request to return to once-a-week watering is a fundamental first step toward that goal.

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