Should Tampa Pump Water from Sinkholes?
According to The Tampa Bay Times,
Florida officials have come up with a plan to pump 2 million gallons of water a day from sinkholes in an effort to restore the flow of water into Tampa Bay. Many residents are expressing alarm over the plan.
To the people who live in the suburbs around Blue Sink, this is a Rube Goldberg solution that can only lead to further problems — for them. They fear pumping water from the sinkholes will create even more sinkholes, not to mention draining their lakes and sucking their private wells dry.
“When our lakes go dry, who pumps the water back into our lakes?” one resident asked in an email to the agency in charge of permitting the project.
It’s a valid question and a valid concern. The Water Department seems to feel that the impact will be minimal and that homeowners won’t have anything to worry about.
It’s no secret that Florida has serious water challenges. That’s one reason why we’ve focused so much on water use issues and rainwater reclamation use issues here on our blog.
And we don’t pretend to be engineers.
However, we can’t help but worry right along with the residents that they might see more sinkholes under their homes after the Tampa Water Department makes this move. It seems ripe for unintended consequences.
What are your thoughts on this project? Share them in the comments below. After doing so much coverage on sinkholes, too, we’re quite interested!
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