Dwindling water supplies
Editor:

The same day on Nov. 15 that the South Florida Water Management District was threatening to limit water use to just one day a week because of dwindling water supplies, a bunch of bureaucrats were approving a new town at the former Babcock Ranch in Charlotte County.

The stringent water restrictions are necessary, we are told, because domestic use of water is fast exceeding the water supply, and it therefore is necessary that residents use less for such things as car washing, gardening, bathing and drinking.

Yet, our public officials appear to be speaking out of both sides of their mouths. They beseech us to use less water - at the same time the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council is approving a whole new community of 18,000 homes that will add horrifyingly to water demand. With the 18,000 additional homes will come 3 million square-feet of retail space, 500,000 square-feet of medical offices, 600 hotel rooms, 418 adult living units, 275 acres of parks, 54 holes of golf, and six new schools.

Let's put it into perspective:

• The average person in unincorporated Lee County use 120 gallons of finished water each day. This is potable water. The stuff used on golf courses and in irrigation, etc., is additional.

• At two people per household, this is 87,600 gallons of water per household per year.

• Multiply that annual use by the 18,000 new homes being created at Babcock and you see that the planning council has just added 1,576,800,000 gallons of potable water per year in residential use alone. Millions of additional gallons will be needed for the retail stores, parks, golf courses, etc.

Now, think about it.

You are being told to cut your water use because there just isn't enough water. And the same people then turn around and approve adding a couple of billion gallons to the load.

Nowhere in the news reports was there any indication that members of the planning council even asked about the impact of this new community on the water supply. There's no indication that any of these bureaucrats even inquired as to where the additional water would come from.

I guess once-a-month watering is in our future. Or, maybe once a year.

Common sense appears to be as scarce as the water we drink. ¦

Dan A. Martin

Fort Myers