West Palm Beach Florida’s water crisis worsens- 22 days before the city runs out

June 14, 2011 – FLORIDA – The mayor of West Palm Beach is ordering increased enforcement of water restrictions. As a result, employees in the police, public utilities and parks departments will be trained to issue warnings and citations. Every Friday department directors will need to update the number of warnings and citations issued during the week. On Tuesday, unbeknown to the mayor or commissioners — city officials warned the South Florida Water Management District that it had only 22 days of water supply remaining.  “Conditions are such that a significant threat exists to the public’s health, safety, and welfare; the health of animals, fish, or aquatic life; public water supply, and commercial, agricultural, and other reasonable uses,” the report stated in requesting permission for the city to tighten its watering restrictions. A day after the city warned that it only had 22 days of water remaining, West Palm Beach approved an order on residents allowing just one day a week of watering, effective today. Also, the city started spending about $10,000 a day from its utility reserves to purchase water from the county. But the city can only get one-third of its water needs from the county and might have to rely solely on the county supply should it run out of its own water. If the city estimates are accurate, it would run out of water on June 28. It’s not immediately clear how long the addition of county water and the new restrictions on watering will extend that. –WPTV