Drink up Northwest Florida, we've got plenty of water
BY LISA NEWELL Gulf Breeze News lisa@gulfbreezenews.com

The news media is projecting that without a soaking rain, Atlanta may lose most of its water supply in a matter of weeks.

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue is asking the president to stem the flow of water from Georgia to Florida in hopes of preserving the water supply until enough rain can regenerate the lakes. Georgia officials are threatening legal action if the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers does not cut the amount of water released from state lakes for agricultural and industrial use.

It's all being blamed on the exceptional drought covering much of the Southeast, parching crops, evaporating huge lakes and causing water rationing in some areas. The National Weather Service reports that Birmingham, Ala. has a rain deficit of 25 inches for 2007. Atlanta has a deficit of over 16 inches.

But here in Northwest Florida, we don't have to worry, said Vernon Prather, Public Services Director and head of the city's water utility, the South Santa Rosa Utility System.

Prather explained that cities such as Atlanta and Alexander City, Ala. rely on surface water for their water supply and we get ours locally from a sand and gravel aquifer that produces pristine water, abundantly.

The Fairpoint Regional Utility System, which supplies our water system, is a deep well located in an area where there has been no industrial contamination of the water. Because of its depth, it doesn't rely on rainwater to fill it up.

Prather explained that a lake is like a giant bowl that must be filled up with water. If the rains don't come, as in the case of a prolonged drought, it poses a problem to the area population.

But groundwater isn't as reliant on rain and doesn't fluctuate as quickly as atmospheric conditions.

And Northwest Florida also is free of the water problems that are in South Florida, Prather said, where there are "too many people and not enough water."

In the past, South Florida had ground wells pumping, but because of over-demand and over-pumping, salt water intruded into the wells, causing them to be contaminated.

Many of the water systems in South Florida now rely on reverse osmosis to create drinkable water from brackish or sea water. This option is very expensive and cost is passed along to the customers.

"You've got to find something to do with all that salt," Prather said, which is a byproduct of the desalination process.

Although the local water supply is plentiful, Prather cautions us to use it wisely.

"Always be conservation minded. Never waste a natural resource," he said.

The Midway water system utilizes the Floridian Aquifer, another groundwater system which interconnects into the South Santa Rosa Utility System.