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FARMS Program Conserves Water

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 9, 2008

LITHIA - A number of agricultural operations across Hillsborough County will save millions of gallons of water by recycling water flowing off their crops.

The FARMS program, sponsored by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, encourages farmers and nursery owners to use the best management practices to conserve, and local growers are taking advantage.

The owner of a nursery in Lithia, Holmberg Farms, said three reservoirs on his property will reduce by 60 percent to 70 percent the amount of water he must pump from the underground Floridan aquifer to irrigate some 200 acres of container plants.

Typically, the nursery uses about 600,000 gallons of water per day for irrigation, nursery manager John Carter said. That compares with an average family water use of about 1,500 gallons a month, said Hillsborough County Water Resources Department spokeswoman Michelle Van Dyke.

When the newest reservoir and pumping system starts operating soon, up to 80 percent of the water used at the nursery will come from the ponds. And most of that will be recycled water that flows from the nursery operation back into the ponds.

The water is returned to the ponds by pumping water used for irrigation through underground pipes.

"It's not so much that it's good for the nursery as it is just the right thing to do," owner Douglas Holmberg said.

FARMS, or Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems, will pay half the $589,000 cost of building the newest reservoir and installing the pumping station. Holmberg paid for the other two ponds, drain pipes and pumping stations.

The program started in Manatee County in 2003 in what is called the Southern Water-Use Caution Area. The 5,100-square-mile area includes the part of Hillsborough County from State Road 60 south - the fastest-growing region in the county. The water management district designated the caution area because of too much pumping from the underground aquifer. Water use is considered to be at critical levels and will remain so for the next 20 years.

Overuse of the aquifer means saltwater can seep into the underground freshwater. Water from the Gulf of Mexico is pulled inland as the aquifers recede. Too much salt on many crops can spell disaster, so it's in farmers' best interest to cut back on underground pumping, said FARMS program director Bill Orendorff.

One of the major functions of the water-use caution area recovery plan is to use all available reclaimed water. The FARMS program pushes that mission forward, Orendorff said.

Farmers must apply for the grant money and submit a project design and budget to be eligible for consideration, Orendorff said.

"We do a cost benefit analysis to make sure it's a worthy project," he said.

The water district board agreed in October to expand the program throughout Hillsborough County, although priority is given to agricultural operations in the caution area.

Several other FARMS projects are in various stages, including one at Spring Valley Tree Farm, west of Plant City. Owner Gary Craig will connect an existing 1.5-acre reservoir to an irrigation system at the 15-acre nursery.

Spring Valley uses about 52,900 gallons of water a day. The recycling project will allow Craig to reuse surface water and runoff recovered from the nursery, reducing aquifer pumping by 10,580 gallons a day - a 20 percent reduction.

Orendorff said three strawberry farms are in the program, which is jointly funded by the state Legislature and the water district.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 657-4532 or at yhammett@tampatrib.com.

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