Don't Water The Lawn

If you're thinking about watering the lawn, turn off the tap and read this first.

Southwest Florida Water Management District's governing board voted Wednesday to extend the current water shortage order, which restricts lawn watering to one-day-per-week, through Feb. 27, 2009. The water shortage order, which has been in effect since Jan. 16, 2007, was slated to expire Tuesday.

The board said the region is still impacted by the two-year drought and portions of the district didn't receive enough rain during the wet season, which ends after November.

The area was beginning to see normal rainfall patterns return, as well as the recovery of water resources. But while the rest of the state received significant rainfall from Tropical Storm Fay, the storm skirted Central Florida and subsequent tropical systems brought drier air, rather than rainfall.

As a result, the district is still experiencing a 24-month rainfall deficit.

"Despite the better rainfall this past year, we have not seen recovery to pre-drought conditions," said Granville Kinsman, hydrologic data manager.

As of Sept. 22, groundwater levels for the northern, central and southern regions of the district have already peaked and are beginning to decline. Lakes in the southern region are 3.6 to 6.7 feet lower than expected.

The northern region includes Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Levy, Marion and Sumter counties; the central region includes Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, and Polk counties; and the southern region includes Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Manatee and Sarasota counties.

Here's When To Water

House numbers

May irrigate

ending in ...

on...

0 or 1

Monday

2 or 3

Tuesday

4 or 5

Wednesday

6 or 7

Thursday

8 or 9

Friday