Drought shows no sign of easing in Volusia County

Lack of rain, demand for water, strain aquifer

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted May 18, 2008 - 4:16:53pm

May is normally part of the dry season in Florida, and people in the Sunshine State await the start of the rainy season, which usually begins in earnest in late May or early June.

The latest readings of Volusia County’s monitoring wells confirm there is a drought, and the rains cannot come soon enough to allay Tom Carey’s concerns about the aquifer.

“We had 14 wells below base line at the end of April,” said Carey, the county’s groundwater-program manager. “That’s not unusual, but what worries me is we may not get rain for a while.”

Eight wells had been below their base lines in March.

The base-line levels, he explained, were set during the record drought in the spring of 1981.

The 14 wells with the below-base-line levels in April were rather widely distributed throughout the county. However, four of the wells are in the Seville area, two are in Pierson and one is in Barberville. Other monitoring wells with below-base-line levels are in the Ormond Beach area, Glenwood, Orange City and Tiger Bay.

The county’s Division of Environmental Management has 46 monitoring wells in its network, which covers the county. Carey checks each one each month. The April readings were also disturbing, in that they show a widespread drawdown of the aquifer.

“Every one of the 46 wells was lower than it was before,” he told The DeLand-Deltona Beacon. “It was really unusual.”

Readings from the monitoring wells at the end of April came after about three weeks of little, if any, measurable rainfall. The lack of rain, coupled with nonstop demand for groundwater, was bound to cause well levels to decline.

Volusia’s aquifer is a sole-source water supply, wholly dependent on rain for replenishment.

The Volusian-Floridan aquifer that sustains life locally is somewhat like a cistern, a self-contained vessel not fed by large underground rivers from other parts of the state. The absence of fresh water in the aquifer makes it vulnerable to saltwater intrusion, which would make the water supply brackish. The presence of sufficient fresh water prevents salt water from flowing in.

Volusia County’s normal annual rainfall is about 53.2 inches. For the past 12 months, the county has received just over 50 inches of rain, which means there is a rain deficit of about 3 inches.

At this writing, Volusia County has a reading, or score, of more than 500 on the Keetch-Byram Drought Index. That is an overall number, as some parts of the county are drier than others.

The drought index ranges between 0 and 800, and higher numbers indicate more arid conditions. During June 1998, when wildfires charred tens of thousands of acres across the county and elsewhere in Florida, Volusia County had a reading of more than 700. County Fire Services officials told the County Council Volusia was actually drier than the Sahara Desert during that time.

Until the current drought is broken, a burn ban is in effect in much of Volusia County, including the cities of DeLand, DeBary, Deltona, Lake Helen, Oak Hill and Pierson, as well as the unincorporated areas.

Outdoor burning is prohibited, and that includes campfires, bonfires, burning yard trash or garbage, and outdoor cooking, except for the use of gas or charcoal grills.

Violators of the burn ban may be subject to a $500 fine or 60 days in jail, or both.

— al@beacononlinenews.com

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