The water crisis is only one sentinel event that shows that we are headed for even greater problems unless we start treating massive uncontrolled development as an invasive disease that is killing Florida. We can no longer embrace development as we did in the 1970s - it is now creating far too many problems that taxpayers must ultimately pay for. The current philosophy of the governor's growth management plan is to have planning done by local governments with little or no state oversight. If this passes, Florida is doomed. There is no question that the more tract housing and apartments that are built, the more water users and abusers there are to compound the existing water crisis.
More people translates to more problems that the politicians choose to ignore.
The bottom line is that scientists should make water decisions, not politicians. Ethics and pragmatism must figure in somewhere as well. It is time for the people of our state to become involved. The drought conditions we are living with have reached critical proportions. I was born and raised in this great state 53 years ago.