Excellent post
Short, to the point and logically reasoned!

New sinkhole in the road opened up at 466A and BV today according to the other news.

Good point.

From the photo and if it were from anywhere else, or we knew how deep it was...one could easily assume it was simply a normal pothole.

We'll just have to wait and see if it is truly a sinkhole...or a small failure of the pavement-base. :shrug:

This is news to me, and if true, wouldn't all this water empty the aquifer (s) under our houses? This sounds like fraking to me, cant the Governnor create a moratorium on this until some research is done?

I found this at : Permit seeks 500K gallons a day from aquifer - News - Daily Commercial - Leesburg, FL

"If granted a permit, SWR Properties has an agreement to sell the water to Azure Water, which has an about 15,000-square-foot bottled water co-packing operation at 1903 Greenleaf Lane, off Tally Road, in Leesburg.
In turn, Azure would sell the water to existing clients like Publix, DS Water and the Niagra Bottling Company. Permit documents show Azure has other potential bottled water buyers that include big-box stores like Wal-Mart, Sams, Target and Kmart; grocery store chains like Winn-Dixie, Kroger, Fresh Market and Whole Foods; convenience store chains like 7-Eleven, Race Trac, Wawa and Hess; and drug stores like Walgreens and CVS."

Supposedly they use a "deep" acquifer that doesn't affect us. I don't buy it.
I'm surprised that you haven't heard about it.
There were people who banded together in opposition, but their voices were overruled.
The water company received approval to go ahead. :rant-rave:

I hope I don't regret writing this post.

First, water is a finite source that is not guaranteed to last forever. It must be used logically.

But, I want to put into perspective the requested withdrawal of 500,000 gal/day (0.5 million) from the Floridan aquifer.

"Total withdrawals from the Floridan aquifer system in 2000 were ranked 5th highest of all principle aquifers in the Nation at 3,640 million gallons per day." That's 3 billion, 640 million gal/day.
Source: Wikipedia

Additionally, there are approximately 700 springs in Florida. These hydrological springs are naturally occurring places where water flows from the aquifer to the surface.

Several of the springs with the largest outflows are in Citrus and Marion counties. One in Citrus county has a daily outflow of more than 630 million gal/day. It just leaves the aquifer naturally.
Source: Wikipedia A long article but very informative.

Again, water conservation is important. However, 500,000 gal/day could be considered the proverbial "drop in the bucket." Fortunately, there is a process that any business must follow so that withdrawal from the aquifer is approved.

Why aren't we better able to take the salt out of the ocean water and use that?

high cost