Jim Reynolds, Executive Director of Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, led off the program with a description of where we get our water (from wells in Florida City, bringing water up from the Biscayne Aquifer, about 60 feet down), how much of it we are allotted (17 million gallons a day in the dry season, 19 million a day in rainy season), how much of our allotment we use (about all of it), and where we'll get more water when demand outstrips supply (by drilling deeper in Florida City to tap the Florida Aquifer's brackish water at 1,500 feet -- at great cost in engineering and additional filtration -- about $20 million). 

Mr. Reynolds noted that the Keys exceeded our water allotment last dry season, causing a stern warning from South Florida Water Management District to reduce consumption. To avoid a repeat of that this year, FKAA plans to reduce pressure throughout the system on December 1.

Other conservation measures include  encouraging use of low-flow toilets and shower heads, restrictions on car-washing and lawn-watering during critical shortages.

He said that some residential customers routinely use $200-300 of water a month.  Said Reynolds: "High ticket rentals are killing us".  High-use customers pay only very slightly higher rates, a rate structure which does not encourage conservation on the part of water hogs.

John Jones, Key West's Assistant City Manager spoke on water issues from a city perspective, highlighting the historic scarcity of water in Key West, and the resourcefulness of islanders in tapping the freshwater lens (shallow lens-shaped deposit of rainwater just beneath the surface of the larger keys), and capturing rainwater.  Some Key Westers still use wells for landscaping and household use, though groundwater from shallow wells in the Keys is not considered safe to drink.  Mr. Jones pointed out that Key West's advanced wastewater treatment plant injects 5.2 million gallons a day of near drinking-quality water into the ground, and that it may someday have to be considered for augmenting water supplies for landscaping use.   Indeed, Key West has a conservation challenge, as hotels, resorts, and luxury homes are huge water users.


Next, John Hammerstrom, Key Largo resident, environmental activist and Last Stand member, described the resource-efficient home he and his wife built, which allows them to "lead normal lives and conserve resources", as he puts it.  Their home sports rooftop photovoltaic cells for generating electricity, and a 7,000 gallon cistern for rainwater collection.  The Hammerstroms are connected to the electric grid and have "city water", but can be independent if necessary.  Their "homegrown" water and power reduce their burden on public utilities, and save them money.  (The Hammerstroms sometimes produce more electricity than they use, and sell it to Florida Keys Electric Coop.)  Cisterns aren't cheap.  Building or buying, new tanks or cisterns run about $1 per gallon of storage, so payoff would take many years.  But the ability to be independent when needed is valuable.  And besides... plants prefer rainwater to chlorinated water.  Tongue firmly in cheek, Mr. Hammerstrom remarked that when he and his wife begin to run short on stored rainwater, they use the municipal supply first for flushing toilets, saving rainwater for drinking.


Alicia Putney, land-use authority and former Monroe County planning commissioner, addressed the relationship between growth and infrastructure.  She cited the concurrency requirement of Florida's 1985 Growth Management Act, which says that new development can't happen unless a minimum "level of service" (LOS) exists for infrastructure such as traffic and utilities.  She reminded us that a building moratorium was imposed on Big Pine Key in 1995 when the traffic LOS fell below minimum.  For water, Florida's minimum LOS is 100 gallons per day per person.  Present consumption averages 160 gal/day/person.  Alicia pointed out that expanded infrastructure always results in more growth -- the "build it and they will come" syndrome -- and that costs of expanded infrastructure falls unfairly on the shoulders of current users. 

It is certain that water will become ever more precious a resource in the future, worldwide and in the Keys.  The Keys' water supply is threatened by saltwater intrusion due to overuse as well as sea-level rise, may be threatened by development on the mainland, and we are currently using all we can get out of the ground without the huge expense of drilling deeper and filtering brackish water to satisfy our voracious thirst.