Tampa Bay Water declared a Stage Three Extreme Regional Supply Shortage on March 6. The area faces its worst drought in five decades. River flows dropped. The annual average river flow deficit now exceeds 10 million gallons per day.
The Alafia River, one of the region’s primary supply sources, is unavailable. Flow is insufficient. Nearly half of the drinking water used in the area comes from local rivers, but with levels too low, that source can’t be tapped.
“This is the worst drought we’ve seen probably in the last 50 years,” said Warren Hogg, chief science officer for Tampa Bay Water, according to Fox 13 News…