Water Restrictions Driving People Out of Polk County....

According to recent reports, Polk County residents now have a water restrictions for one day per week. Some long time residents view this as a punishment and feel that this could have been prevented.

What does this boils from? Too many developments and not enough water to service the area has cause city officials to start cracking down and enforcing new watering restrictions which limits watering to once weekly. So many need to pay attention to this and change the settings on their sprinkler systems again.

Violators will face a fine for repeated violations, and the maximum fine will be $500. The commissioners unanimously approved this new fine. This was in response the the Southwest Florida Water Management District's severe water shortage restrictions which was issued January 9th.

Under the new rule, if your address or house number end in:

Zero or one, water only Monday.

Two or three, water only Tuesday.

Four or five, water only Wednesday.

Six or seven, water only Thursday.

Eight or nine and areas without a discernible address, water only Friday.

The restrictions are in effect from Jan. 16 until July 31 for water from public and private utilities, wells and surface water sources such as ponds and rivers, according to a press release. Also, residents cannot water between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on any day and there is no watering allowed on weekends.

Under the new rules that were approved Thursday night, violators will be given a written warning the first time. A second violation comes with a $25 fine and a third violation is $100. A fourth violation is $200, and fifth and subsequent violations will be $500.

This makes very residents to be very frustrated and blame these watering restrictions on new developments in the area.