Letter: Water shortage during dry spell does not bode well for Palm Coast's future

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

Our most basic resource needs to be managed

Dear Editor:

What ya gonna do when the well runs dry? The story in the May 15 Observer regarding the city’s water supply should be a giant red-light alert for residents. If, as they tell us, due to the current warm spell and increased consumer water usage, the city has had to switch to alternative supplies including lowering water pressure to conserve what is going out to users. This bodes ill for a city undergoing a massive growth surge at this time. It seems it’s business as usual for the city.

The fact of the matter is that if we are struggling to provide the most basic resource, water, to residents right now, what will happen in a dry spell five years from now when our city has thousands more thirsty residents? The St. Johns River Water Management District has declared our area “at risk” for water resources citing the huge increase of wells pumping out enormous amounts of water each and every day that may be damaging the aquifer due to allowing saltwater intrusion to fill the void. Our water purification plants do not deal with saltwater. Many of our water wells are located right in the path of the new areas the city is developing west of U.S. Highway 1. Draining, filling, and paving over the wetlands and other now natural areas will deal a heavy blow to the capacity of water wells out there.

Think this is alarmist? Think this is extreme? We can take a trip out west to see many “ghost towns” that died for lack of a consistent water supply. This is Florida with an endless supply of water, we think, so no one cares. Thirst is a sad, yet powerful mechanism to promote attention to a resource that has to be managed to provide a long-term supply for everybody.

Jeffery C. Seib

Palm Coast