Robust Florida Water Supply Is Shrinking

Florida’s robust water resources are under threat as salt water moves inland, and water managers are working hard to secure the supply.

As the Pensacola News Journal recently put it: “West Virginia has coal. Colorado has snow. Florida has lots of water, at least it did.”

The Sunshine State normally gets about 5 feet of rain each year, the same amount that Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming receive combined, the report said.

“But a century of drainage and development has crippled freshwater flows in the historic Everglades, possibly even changed summer weather patterns. Some scientists speculate that so much water runs off the landscape so quickly that there's not enough moisture in the air — during the wet season — to create daily afternoon rains,” the report said.

Water supply managers are working hard to contain the problem.

“State water managers say the resource is sustainable, even in the face of saltwater intrusion in cities like Bonita Springs and Naples. The South Florida Water Management District, which oversees water supply in the 16-county area, started documenting the movement of saltwater below ground in 2009 and has detected intrusion in Lee and Collier counties,” the report said.

Pete Kwiatkowski, who works with the district's water supply bureau, weighed in.

"We're not seeing rampant inland movement of the saltwater into the aquifers, but saltwater intrusion is still occurring," he said, per the report. "It looks like those well water withdrawals (in Bonita Springs) are contributing to inland movement, and we'll be working with the water utility supplies to see if they're increasing water usage or if they need better monitoring wells."

Jim Beever, who works with the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council, also weighed in the problem.

"To a large extent (water) was thrown away to turn South Florida into what I call terraform upland, turning wetlands into [dry] lands," he said, per the report. "Florida was a paradise and we tried to turn into the Midwest."

Just ask the alligators how bad it is. “South Florida was once home to one of the most productive freshwater systems on the planet. Today, park biologists are scrambling to find enough water to keep alligators in the Everglades alive,” the report said.

Infrastructure across the region protects freshwater sources from ocean water, including crucial gate-like structures. But the water is rising too high to keep the ocean water out, American Public Media reported.

Harold Wanless, a University of Miami geology professor, predicts that most of the gates will become obsolete. "By the middle of the century, or before, 82 percent of these structures will no longer function," Wanless said, per the report.

Miami-Dade County is working with the federal government on the problem.

"In order to adapt to the changes that sea level rise will bring to this heavily populated, ecologically important area, Miami-Dade County recognizes the need for a cohesive approach to planning for climate change," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Climate change is the culprit behind rising sea levels, according to Brian McNoldy of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

"Like many low-lying coastal cities around the world, Miami is threatened by rising seas. Whether the majority of the cause is anthropogenic or natural, the end result is indisputable: sea level is rising and it is due to climate change," McNoldy said.