Can Florida’s looming water crisis be averted?

The growing water crisis in Florida resembles a term coined by William Forster Lloyd: “tragedy of the commons.” The term was used by Lloyd and perhaps more famously by the human ecologist Garrett Hardin and described as “individuals acting independently and rationally according to each other’s self-interest behave contrary to the best interests of the whole group by depleting some common resource.”

In Florida, policy makers at all levels are involved, frequently acting in their own political self interest, unwilling to recognize or act on the politically difficult root causes. The end result is cumulative resource decline or depletion.

Often, the public develops the perception that funding traditional water storage and treatment projects is the only solution. Many policy makers would have you believe this, and are quick to take credit for their role in acquiring project funding.

Yes, some level of restoration can and should be attained by these projects, but the problem is the failure to adequately recognize the cumulative rate at which water resources are being diminished – and the role of public policy in this process. It’s a “head in the sand” approach that ultimately leads to tragedy where the scale of incremental progress is inadequate and overwhelmed by the cumulative causes of water pollution and consumption. These problems stem largely from the lack of political will to address policy reform that balances competing uses.

Locally, a favorite justification by some policy makers for overlooking the root problem is by diverting the focus to water system constraints developed nearly a century ago. Certainly the unintended consequences of water diversion from that era in Florida are still in play to some extent today, and one reason there are no easy answers now.

However, by ignoring the current and ongoing underlying policy issues mired in special interest influence, they maintain the illusion that costly water projects are the ultimate solution. The illusion is manifested where competing interests for water, promote their self-interests to politicians, resulting in pollution and depletion of the public resource.

Climate change and another Florida population explosion currently underway are two growing and potentially overwhelming drivers that are impacting Florida’s waters in many insidious ways. Without systemic reform these drivers will limit future options on water sustainability even further.

The visionary framers of Amendment 1, the recent Florida constitutional amendment designed to sustain our land and water resources and passed with an overwhelming majority, was a landmark event that gave many hope that Florida could regain the vision and accomplishments of past leaders on both sides of the aisle that were clearly in the best interests of the whole.

So far we have only seen deceptive commitments and weakening of resource protection from Tallahassee on growth and water issues, and a sad retreat from the will of the people on Amendment 1.

For the “commons,” time is running out.

John Cassani resides in Alva and is Chairman of the Southwest Florida Watershed Council.