New housing developments will sap more precious water

This is a pretty simple question to either our county commissioners or anyone else who has the answer. On a regular basis, I receive a notification from Manatee County reminding me of our current water restrictions.

I have been getting these for many years in the mail with my water bill. It seems these restrictions have been in place for as long as I can remember. I think it is a good thing to be proactive stewards of our natural resources.

My question is, if we are and have been in an acute water shortage for all these years, how can our county commissioners continue to approve new housing developments? It seems everywhere I look these days, a new development is going up or land is being cleared to begin a new development. If we have such a surplus of water as indicated by these new developments, why do we continue to be on water restrictions?

This story was originally published April 19, 2017 at 2:17 PM with the headline "New housing developments will sap more precious water."