[Smalley]

Have any of you lived here long enough to have seen a drought this severe? The ponds are so low it's sad to see. But I haven't heard anything about water restrictions. What's the next step? Do we have enough water at this point that it's not a threat?

[Ruger2506]

Originally Posted by Smalley

Have any of you lived here long enough to have seen a drought this severe? The ponds are so low it's sad to see. But I haven't heard anything about water restrictions. What's the next step? Do we have enough water at this point that it's not a threat?

Not sure about the effect on the neighborhoods. But I can tell you the healthy life cycle of a pond includes drought and low water levels. Many of the Villages ponds look terrible unhealthy. They could use a good drought.

[Altavia]

Must be plenty of upper aquifer water available.

The lake at Eastport and retention ponds in the new construction areas are full of blue, clear water...

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Smalley

Have any of you lived here long enough to have seen a drought this severe? The ponds are so low it's sad to see. But I haven't heard anything about water restrictions. What's the next step? Do we have enough water at this point that it's not a threat?

Many (most? all?) the ponds can be fed from one of the aquifers if needed. Some ponds just provide additional storage capacity and can go dry without causing a problem.

At least between 466 and 44, the fire hydrants are fed by irrigation water which comes from the ponds. The District will be paying very close attention to that.

When restrictions were announced last year by the two water authorities (SWFWMD and SJRWMD), it looked like the Villages' recommended irrigation schedule was in compliance.

It would be useful to see a statement about the drought in the District Weekly Bulletin.

[biker1]

We are definitely below normal for YTD rainfall but we are also still in the dry season. June, July, Aug, and Sept is the rainy season. It will start raining regularly soon.

Originally Posted by Smalley

Have any of you lived here long enough to have seen a drought this severe? The ponds are so low it's sad to see. But I haven't heard anything about water restrictions. What's the next step? Do we have enough water at this point that it's not a threat?

[Jim1mack]

IMO the ponds were drawn down way, way, way too low after the last two hurricanes. Grass is growing where water levels should be. No appreciable rain in my weather apps 45 day forecast. I golf executive and championship courses five days a week and fear the courses are headed to the deteriated conditions they were last year.

[biker1]

There are 3 month outlooks (for regions) for precip and temperature from the CPC but day by day forecasts are limited to about 15 days and the skill that far out can be nonexistent depending the larger scale flow.

Originally Posted by Jim1mack

IMO the ponds were drawn down way, way, way too low after the last two hurricanes. Grass is growing where water levels should be. No appreciable rain in my weather apps 45 day forecast. I golf executive and championship courses five days a week and fear the courses are headed to the deteriated conditions they were last year.

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by Ruger2506

Not sure about the effect on the neighborhoods. But I can tell you the healthy life cycle of a pond includes drought and low water levels. Many of the Villages ponds look terrible unhealthy. They could use a good drought.

Happens every year. Before you know it the daily intense thunder and lightning storms will fill the ponds to the point where they start pumping water out of them to make room for the dumpings when a wave of potential tropical storms start blowing through.

[Stu from NYC]

Lots of brown grass around here, hopefully rain will start soon.

[mraines]

Originally Posted by Smalley

Have any of you lived here long enough to have seen a drought this severe? The ponds are so low it's sad to see. But I haven't heard anything about water restrictions. What's the next step? Do we have enough water at this point that it's not a threat?

This is Florida. Not much caring about the environment.

[Ruger2506]

Originally Posted by mraines

This is Florida. Not much caring about the environment.

Sadly that's true. I've never seen a state with so much natural beauty to lose care so little about it. FL, the land of the all mighty developer dollar.

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by Ruger2506

Sadly that's true. I've never seen a state with so much natural beauty to lose care so little about it. FL, the land of the all mighty developer dollar.

Seems this year is worse than the last 3-4 years. Never seen any pond/lake bone dry before. Most people do not know this but in 1999 wildfires were all over north central Florida. Might be the same this year

[Old Traveller]

The dry season ends the last full week of May. Write it down. Mother Nature flips a switch and the heat, humidity and afternoon storms roll in. The Villages drained the ponds pretty good before the last hurricane of 2024, Milton I believe. However, the Villages didn't get the anticipated rain, thus a shortage. But, that's better than homes flooding if Milton had dropped 20 inches of rain. Homes in the Villages north of 466 use all potable water from the aquifer. Homes south of 466 use non potable water for landscaping and potable water for homes and our outside hoses from the aquifer. However, if the ponds dry up they use potable water from the aquifer for landscaping. Tom Hanks is narrating a series on television called "The Americas". Hanks said Florida's aquifer is over a thousand feet deep in some areas. He said every rain storm drops billions of gallons of water. The rivers flowing into Crystal Springs Florida, where the manatees hang out in the winter, delivers between 800 to 500 million gallons of water per day.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by kkingston57

Seems this year is worse than the last 3-4 years. Never seen any pond/lake bone dry before. Most people do not know this but in 1999 wildfires were all over north central Florida. Might be the same this year

Florida wildfire map

[AZ SLIM]

By the end of last summer with all the rainfall I became tired of fighting the cinch bugs and fungus in our St. Augustine grass. I swore I would never complain about lack of rain again. Well, I am ready for rain. Does this make me a bad person?