Florida Drought Worsens

Amazing before (below) and after (above) shots of Central Florida's Lake Theresa

click on any image to enlarge

These images were taken from about the same location.  Above, yesterday (March 2012), below (March 2003).  They highlight the worsening conditions as Florida's years-long drought rages on.  Our 700 acre lake is virtually gone.  These are really unbelievable sights for those of us who've lived here for years.

In addition to the lack of moisture and clouds. . . it has been wicked hot.  Today the temperatures have already reached 90° F (32.2° C).  Above:  March 2012, below the same shot March 2003.  My boat is about a mile from the nearest puddle these days.

Perhaps most shocking are the calculations of the amount of water lost.  The total volume of water that is missing from this one Central Florida lake is at least 3 billion gallons (see calculations below).  Above:  March 2003, below the same shot yesterday, March 2012.

The view that we see from the house.  Above, March 2003, below, March 2012.  About a mile in the distance there are some puddles remaining.

WHAT CAUSED THIS DROUGHT?

Two significant events contributed to this environmental degradation, one natural, one political.

First,  repeated La Niña episodes in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and changing global weather patterns (global warming) have led to years of far-below-normal rainfall.  Second, politicians had a hand in causing the massive breakdown of these wetlands.  

In late 2003, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush ordered hundreds of millions of gallons of water to be dumped from this chain of lakes into the St. Johns River.  The cities and counties in the area spent countless millions of dollars digging ditches and installing pumps to comply with the Governor's order to speed the removal of what he called "excess water" from the ecosystem.   Note that his only job prior to buying the Florida Governorship was as a land developer.  He had no environmental science background.  The former Governor's order hastened the pointless decay of this ecosystem despite hundreds of lawsuits from lakefront homeowners.   This is one of the more heinous relics of the ill-fated Florida Bush administration.

It is possible that the lakes could have recovered from Mr. Bush's unconscionable environmental policies once he left office had normal weather patterns resumed.  Unfortunately we are still awaiting what was once normal Florida weather.

It is a complicated calculation to figure out just how much water has disappeared from this one lake in Central Florida.  This lake is in a chain of lakes that covered tens of thousands of acres prior to 2003.  I only did the calculations for Lake Theresa, the largest of the nearly dry lakes in this small chain-of-lakes.  Under normal conditions Lake Theresa's surface area covered about 700 acres with an average depth of about 12 feet.  Its deepest point being an artesian spring about 70 feet deep.

1 Acre = 43,560 square feet

700 x 43,560 = 30,492,000 square feet

Cubic Feet = length x width x depth (approximately 12 feet vertical water depth lost) =

365,904,000 Cubic Feet

1 Cubic Foot = 7.48 U.S. Gallons

365,904,000 x 7.48 = 2,736,961,920 Gallons Lost

in this one Central Florida lake.

That's almost 3 BILLION Gallons from Lake Theresa. 

There are dozens of lakes in this chain of lakes that 

are now dry or virtually dry.  The amount of water

that is missing is staggering, likely in the trillions of gallons.

Below:  The most recent U.S. Drought Monitor graphic on the drought in Central Florida.  We are currently in the "severe" drought category.  Further north in Florida the dry conditions are more dire.  The drought is now rated as "Extreme."