West Central Florida residents will need to keep conserving water for a while longer.
After months of unusually dry weather depleted local water sources and left a key reservoir starting the rainy season billions of gallons below normal, officials decided to keep the region’s “extreme” outdoor watering rules in effect.
What’s happening?
Unless steady rainfall returns, most of West Central Florida will stay under a Modified Phase III “Extreme” Water Shortage through Oct. 1, according to WUSF.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District said May came in 11 inches below normal for rainfall, while rivers and lakes also remained unusually low. To make matters worse, Tampa Bay Water’s primary reservoir entered the rainy season roughly 6 billion gallons below its typical level…