February 2, 1990

Crisis Could Start Water War

Water War!

The possibility of a battle between Sarasota, DeSoto and Charlotte Counties over dwindling supplies of precious liquid sends shudders through the construction industry.

The City of Sarasota has reached capacity of its water treatment and distribution system, despite stringent conservation. The county commission there will decide next week whether to impose a two-month ban on new building permits while it tries to determine what to do next.

Sarasota city officials knew the crunch was coming and has made plans to tap the Myakka River for additional water. In fact, the county is preparing to build a $23 million reservoir, wells and treatment plant on a reserve of land set aside for the purpose.

However, the cost is large and amount of water produced limited. To alleviate the crisis, Sarasota has approached General Development Utilities of Charlotte County with an offer to buy water.

By tapping into the GDU water system - which takes water from the Peace River in DeSoto County - Sarasota commissioners hope to postpone full exploitation of the Myakka River reserve for 20 years or more.

A pipeline to interconnect the GDU and Sarasota water systems would cost only $4 million. However, the Peace River-Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority has said in the past that all water possible was being withdrawn from the Peace River. Thus, the existing GDU supply would have to be shared.

Authority Chairman Ed Johnson, also a DeSoto County commissioner, says he is “disappointed” with Sarasota’s proposal to siphon water from other counties. “One of the reasons the four-county board was formed was to avoid water wars such as this.”

At the moment, GDU is non-committal about furnishing water to Sarasota. It supplies treated water to approximately 40,000 customers.

There are 64,300 vacant lots in North Port, and about twice that number in north Charlotte County. Most of these were platted by General Development Corp., parent company of GDU, and must have water in order to accommodate new homes.

General Development is a good citizen and wants to help if it can. However, it is obvious that if construction is halted in Sarasota, people seeking home sites will gravitate to GDC communities with water systems in place.

The Manatee River is a more copious source of water, but Manatee County commissioners have flatly rejected sharing with their neighbors.

A moratorium on new homes would be a severe blow to Sarasota. Other communities soon would be forced to follow suit. The impact on the construction industry would be devastating.

Local economies also would be hard hit by loss of a major industry. After the initial shock and unemployment, affected communities would fall back on retirees and tourists who already are milked through sales and bed taxes.

Southwest Florida has an enviable climate and lifestyle. Projected growth would in 30 years create a mega-metropolis 170 miles long and 10 miles wide, according to Wayne Daltry, director of the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council.

That is, if there is water enough for 3 million people. As things now stand, there is only enough water for 1 million, and the present population of 900,000 is bumping that ceiling.

The future will be determined by technology and mutual cooperation.

Everyone wants to be neighborly. But when the situation boils down to survival, grim attitudes take over.

How the present crisis in Sarasota is resolved will tell us a lot about what is in store for the rest of us.

THE PASSING PARADE

The Soviet Union is considering an income tax to raise money for foreign consumer goods. The central planning bureau has a long list of things it intends to buy: 15 million pairs of leather shoes, 30 million pairs of panty hose, 300 million razor blades, 10,000 tons of toothpaste and 180 tons of soap.

The Soviets still would lack houses, automobiles and kitchen appliances - but they would smell better.

By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist