The push comes in the wake of an emergency order issued by the Southwest Florida Water Management District last month to conserve the precious resource as the Tampa Bay area experiences its worst drought in the more than 85 years that records have been kept. In response to the order, the county has assembled a team of 47 workers willing to work overtime to enforce the restrictions in unincorporated Pinellas County and Largo, Seminole and beach communities except Clearwater Beach. Only two full-time workers were enforcing watering rules before the order was issued. The county trained a set of troops during four, two-hour workshops in March. All were provided notebooks that contain guidelines for water restriction enforcement.
Employees also meet regularly to discuss better ways to crack down on violators.
They have their work cut out for them. A recent sheet had 170 reported violators, including a hospital in Largo, a local U.S. Post Office, fast-food restaurants on Missouri Avenue and East Bay Drive and banks in Clearwater and Oldsmar. A number of apartments, condominiums and residents also have been reported for breaking the rules. All of this surveillance comes at a high price. The funds will come from the utilities' operating budget, but the costs likely will be passed on to customers through their water bills, Wiley said.