Since learning more about water issues through you book and your work as a journalist, have you changed any your own water consumptive ways?
Great question. In May, I had a “pool party” for my daughter’s third birthday. We don’t have a pool, but I got a bunch of baby pools and set them up with slides, along with some sprinklers whirring around for the little girls to run through. One of the moms joked that she was going to call the local TV station to swoop down with their helicopter and investigate the water waste going on in my backyard.
How should we encourage smarter water choices?
I am most ashamed of the amount of laundry I do – with two kids, I feel like I do laundry non-stop, and that’s something I haven’t been able to change much even though I’ve tried. I’ll decide that everyone has to wear jeans at least twice, and then they come home covered with sand, paint, spaghetti, etc., and I back down. When our washer dies, which will be soon, we’ll replace it with a water- and energy-efficient front-loader.
Even given our use, which I feel is wasteful, our family’s per-capita is about 70 gallons. So I cannot understand how people use more than 100, much less 200. Our biggest change post-book-research was lawn-watering. We don’t water the grass at all anymore; just the garden. And get this: we still have a lush, beautiful Florida lawn. It turned brown during the drought, but who cares? Lawns aren’t the problem; it’s the way we needlessly soak them.
Florida’s water managers have been trying to encourage us to make smarter choices for many years and it doesn’t seem to work on the large scale. Part of the problem is that the two big drivers of conspicuous water use – agriculture and developers – are also two of the most politically powerful groups in Florida. And so while there is lots of “encouragement” going on, the Legislature is hesitant to pass meaningful conservation laws. For example, at the end of the last drought, in 2002, a statewide task force created a list of 51 water-saving measures in an effort to significantly cut consumption. Five years later, not one of the recommendations in the Florida Water Conservation Initiative has become a state law with tough enforcement. Farmers use the lion’s share of water in Florida – half of all public use – and half of Florida’s farms still use inefficient flood irrigation.I really enjoyed reading the environmental history of the development of Florida from the late 1850s through today. I especially liked learning about the history of Disney and its impact on the environment. I currently feel the magnetic pull to take the family to Disney. In lieu of a trip to Disney, what are some natural water wonderlands that you would recommend for a family vacation?
The only places that have achieved real efficiency are those that have implemented serious irrigation/landscape ordinances and/or conservation pricing, ie, you pay less if you use less. Sarasota County has reduced per-capita use from 140 gallons a decade ago to less than 90 now. In addition to tough irrigation rules, the county’s conservation rate structure has really helped Sarasotans value their water. By the way, that county has some of the most beautiful lawns in Florida.
In lieu of, or even on your way down to Orlando, you must paddle the great Suwannee River. One perfect day trip that isn’t far off Interstate-75: put in at the State Road 249 county boat ramp and take out at Suwannee River State Park near Highway 90. Here are the wonders I tallied recently along this leg: countless sandy beaches for swimming and for mud-pies; three thrill-ride-quality rope swings; one wolf spider guarding its nest of babies; dozens of river turtles; one gopher tortoise; one crawfish; hundreds of fish and birds, from an owl to a pair of swallow-tailed kites; and one incredibly fun karst cave. I should say that I also saw about a 50-year-old grandma in a Confederate flag bikini. You aren’t going to get that at Disney!What book are you reading now?
The other must-sees are the springs of North Florida. Tubing the Ichetucknee River is a wildly popular pastime here in summers; my family’s favorite is an off-the-bean path springs called Hart Springs.
I always have several books open on my nightstand at once; often one for research; one for a personal interest; and one fiction to help me zone out when I wake up worrying in the middle of the night. In that order, the currents are: Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports is Crippling Undergraduate Education, by Murray Sperber; The Woman Triathlete by Christina Gandolfo; and Good Faith, Jane Smiley’s delightful satire about real estate and S&Ls in the greedy ‘80s.Thanks again to Cynthia for her generous time and patience with my first ever interview. This has been fun. Don't forget to read her book.
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