Polk commissioners okay two SWFWMD agreements
By Tom Palmer
BARTOW – Polk County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve two agreements with the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD). One is to continue working toward forming a county-wide water supply agency and the other is to seek funding to develop future water supplies.
"This is an important step," said County Manager Jim Freeman, who explained this advances an effort underway for the past 10 years to come up with a way to develop alternative water supplies to avoid over pumping the Floridan aquifer.
According to projections outlined in the recently published Central Florida Water Initiative report, Polk will need an additional 47 million gallons per day within the next 20 years just to satisfy demand by municipal utilities.