Florida the rules are different here Chapter XCV

Recently I blogged about the new water restrictions in South Florida. We're in the midst of a drought once again. No question about it, water conservation is required right now.

Some how the City of Riviera Beach didn't get the memo. City taxpayers could foot the bill for the incompetence. Don't you just love Florida?

Linked to- Basil, Bright & Early, Bullwinkle,

RIVIERA BEACH — The city caught them red-handed Wednesday: sprinklers spraying in broad daylight, brazenly violating the region's water restrictions.

The problem: They're the city's sprinklers.

Spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown blamed it on bad timing, saying a city worker took longer than expected to turn off all the sprinklers before the 8 a.m. deadline. As a result, she said, several sprinklers were still spraying the median along Blue Heron Boulevard as late as 9 a.m., in full view of rush-hour traffic.

The city is taking steps to keep it from happening again, Brown said. But she said a lot of the sprinklers are old and lack timers, so they have to be turned on and off manually.

"The city fully intends to comply and set the example for our residents," she said, adding that the some public works and parks workers are now on earlier shifts. "Our goal is to have everything off by 7:30."

Glad to hear it, said the South Florida Water Management District, which has the power to fine municipal scofflaws as much as $10,000 a day for each violation.

"We do think that municipalities ought to be setting an example," spokesman Jesus Rodriguez said. "It certainly doesn't help when you're watering your lawn only once a week and then you see a median being watered in the middle of the day."

Rodriguez said the district is looking into the Riviera Beach violation, although he doesn't know of any official complaints. Brown said the city already has discussed it with the district and she doesn't expect any fines.

"We explained to them what happened, and that was the end of it," she said.

The district imposed the restrictions last week amid a drought that shows no signs of ending as the region nears its hottest, driest months. They generally limit all users to three days of irrigation per week and ban sprinkling after 8 a.m.

In one four-month spree during the last drought in 2001, the district slapped more than $360,000 in fines on farms, golf courses, apartment complexes and other violators.

They included the governments of Palm Beach County, Jupiter, Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens.