So in an emergency move taken to prevent such a dire scene, Hillsborough County commissioners on Wednesday banned residents in the unincorporated county from watering their lawns on weekends. The eastern shore of Lake Magdalene in northern Hillsborough County is an example of how a lack of rain has affected the Tampa Bay area. Boats and docks are left high and dry. From Jan. 1 through April 30, Swiftmud's central region, which includes Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties, recorded 4.08 inches of rain. Beginning this morning, people who live outside the cities of Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City can water their lawns legally on only one day, Monday through Friday, either before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m., depending on the last digit in their address.
Officials are serious about enforcing the rules, too.
Violators can be turned in on the county's water hotline, which has been jammed with about 150 calls a day. Commissioners acted Wednesday after being told the county's water supply system might collapse under the burden of the old system, when millions of gallons of water were pumped on each of the two legal watering days. The crisis got serious Sunday when thousands of residents ran their sprinkler systems all at once. That day, the county pumped a record 81.2-million gallons of water. Inside the control center Sunday at the water department's plant in Lithia, Arnold Becken, the section manager for water operations, was watching computer readings go off the charts.