With a rise in temperatures across northeast and central Florida this winter, the warm weather has increased the chance of possible droughts in the near future.
Don Brandes, water shortage coordinator for the St. Johns River Water Management District, said the warm weather has caused plants to use more water for photosynthesis while more water from the ground evaporates.
“Conditions improved sharply during the summer with heavy rains, but by fall it began to dry out again,” he said. “Even though we had very heavy rains during the summer, most of it just ran off because it was so heavy; very little of it soaked into the ground.”
Water shortages can also have negative effects on the ecosystem, which in turn can impact people, said Wendy Graham, hydrologist and director of the UF Water Institute.
Graham said a water shortage last summer before Tropical Storm Debby caused a large algae bloom on the Santa Fe River.
Although there is no way to predict climate fluctuations, Graham said raising awareness about droughts and water conservation can be most effective.
“When it comes to water that people use, the most discretionary use that people could cut back is for water landscape irrigation,” Brandes said.
