Panel OKs Planners' 10-Year Water Plan

BARTOW | Polk County commissioners Wednesday OK'd county planners' vision about how to more than double the county's water supply during the next decade to cope with growth.

The 10-year water supply plan, which county officials were required by state law to have in place, contains a mixture of conservation measures, capital projects and proposed changes in development regulations.

The plan was approved initially in February by the County Planning Commission.

After that, state planners from the Florida Department of Community Affairs went over the proposal and pointed out a number of weaknesses.

They said:

Polk's description of the role of alternative water supplies in county utility planning was vague and needed to be more specific.

The county had no specific criteria for using alternative water sources.

The county did not provide data and analysis of the impact of conservation in reducing demand.

The plan contained few details about coordination between the county and municipalities regarding available water supplies to deal with projected water demand.

County officials were unclear about how they arrived at projections for future water demand.

Polk planners responded to DCA's comments by improving some of the language in the plan and working with utility officials to try to justify the county's position, said planner Ana Martinez.

County water consultant Robert Beltran said efforts are under way to get a better idea about more specific future water sources.

County utility plants were pumping as much as 25.8 million gallons per day in 2007, but by 2018 water consumption is expected to grow to more than 64 million gallons per day.

In contrast with somewhat optimistic projections a year or two ago, county officials now acknowledge they have only a general idea of where to get the rest of that water.

One of the potential sources, tapping local rivers, is proving to be less promising because the amount of available water is less than originally projected, and too many utilities are competing to tap that source.

In related action Wednesday, commissioners held the first hearing on a proposal to allocate water supplies in the Northeast utility area.

That proposal was based on the reality that the projected supply through 2013 is 6 million gallons per day, but projected demand is 8 million gallons per day.

The demand allocation scheme is intended to encourage diverse development in the area.

Water has become one of the defining economic and environmental issues in Central Florida during the past two decades, but in the past five years, the issue has become more critical.

Some of the key factors have been:

A 2000 court ruling that upheld the Southwest Florida Water Management District's rules that allowed the agency to further regulate water-use permitting in an area that includes most of Polk County.

A 2006 plan that involves all three water management districts in Central Florida in finding alternative water supplies to wean utilities from further groundwater pumping by 2013 to reduce environmental damage to wetlands, rivers and lakes.

More money being made available by the Legislature and the water management districts to finance development of alternative water sources.

The next step will be the adoption of development regulations to implement the plan.

Martinez said a hearing before the Polk County Planning Commission is tentatively scheduled for September and may be preceded by a public workshop.

[ Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535. ]