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Hillsborough County helping residents with dry wells
Farmers in Hillsborough County have been using additional water to protect their crops because of the near freezing temperatures. But, the county is stepping in to help residents whose private wells have dried up. FOX 13's Carla Bayron reports.
DOVER, Fla. - Hillsborough County is stepping in to help residents whose private wells have dried up in the eastern part of the county.
Farmers there have been using additional water to protect their crops because of the near freezing temperatures, and a severe drought has been contributing to lower aquifer levels.
What they're saying:
Shineta Armour is picking up gallons of water for her household.
"This is going to be used for brushing teeth, flushing the toilets," Armour said.
Armour owns a home with a private well in Dover and on Wednesday, after the freeze spell, she noticed she wasn't getting any water.
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"It's nice to have well water cause you don't have an extra bill, but when it dries up, you're like, ‘what do we do?’" Armour said.
Armour decided to take advantage of Hillsborough County opening a 300-gallon hydration station at the Dover Sports Complex located at 2801 Dover Park Drive, where they're offering potable drinking and cooking water, as well as non-potable for household use.
"We had a coworker who mentioned their well water has been without [water] several days and so this was news to us, so we needed to jump into action," London Womack, division director of the Hillsborough County Public Utilities Department, said.
Big picture view:
Whenever there's a cold or freeze event, irrigation demand goes up because farmers need the water to protect their crops. They're permitted to do so by the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
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"There was a compounding issue. We had a very dry rainy season. We didn't get a hurricane, so we didn't get a whole lot of water. It does affect reservoirs, etc.," Anthony Halcyon, Hillsborough County senior environmental scientist, said. "So, something has to give and, unfortunately, this is one of those situations."
The station will remain open on Thursday until 7:30 p.m., or until supplies run out. This resource will also be available from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday. If there's still demand, they may be available throughout the weekend.
"The economy we're in, funds are tight, so having to go to the store every day, it's not fun, so for the city to do this, it's absolutely amazing," Armour said.
Hillsborough County will be going into a water shortage order starting on Sunday. Irrigation will only be allowed one day a week until July 1.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District advises residents whose wells have been affected to fill out a dry well complaint form here.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered from The Southwest Florida Water Management District, a Dover homeowner, as well as a Hillsborough County senior environmental scientist and the division director of the Hillsborough County Public Utilities Department.