Oviedo plans to punish water wasters

Jan. 9, 2009

By Isaac Babcock

The Voice

Oviedo residents who use too much water will have to pay a much higher price and may be forced to use far less in the future. 

City officials took another step forward in their struggle with water supply issues at Monday's Council meeting, when they decided to move forward with a sliding scale to reward residents who use less water, and punish those who use too much. They also created a conflict of interest in the process — one that could end up costing the city money. 

December 23, 2008

Water: Cities' Cash Cow

At the core of the issues is that 'water flows toward the money'

By DINAH VOYLES PULVER
Environment Writer

Say "water" and many people think blue, as in the Caribbean or the crystal depths of a Florida spring. But look closer at water issues around the world and the real color of water may be green -- as in money.

Water -- its management, use and protection -- floats an annual U.S. industry with revenue of $92 billion, according to a report from the Environmental and Business Journal.

Among Florida's five water management districts and the water division of the state Department of Environmental Protection, the combined annual expenses top $1.8 billion. Then there are private water bottlers, federal and local governments, consultants paid to study water and help everyone navigate bureaucratic systems and the money spent when local governments sue each other over water.

October 16, 2008
Push for Yankee Lake pump feels like another public scam
By ERIC WEST
COMMUNITY VOICE

 
Many of us suffer the same anger and disappointment when we learn that our elected officials or government agencies have not been pretending to work on our behalf but are doing the opposite. Such a sad episode is playing out right now in Sanford, where an administrative judge is hearing the case against allowing the St. Johns River Water Management District and Seminole County to construct a facility at Yankee Lake to remove water from the St. Johns River.
 
Fighting this are St. Johns County, Jacksonville and the St. Johns Riverkeeper (a nonprofit organization formed to help protect the river). The water management district and Seminole County want to build a water plant with capacity to pump 5.5 million gallons a day from the river to supply irrigation and potable water to the northern sectors of Seminole County, most notably, the most water inefficient community in all of the district's purview -- Heathrow.