TAMPA, FL -- With a severe drought bearing down on Tampa Bay, a sprinkler ban in Tampa has some homeowners taking matters into their own hands.
"I guess I'm gonna have to water by hand," says Sally Baldwin, a Tampa homeowner.
Across the bay in a Clearwater neighborhood, drastically dry times means Julie Phillips, a code enforcement officer with the city of Clearwater, just started patrolling more often.
"Oh, yeah! Very wet," Phillips exclaims as she checks a lawn for moisture.
A green lush lawn still sparkling with moisture is hard to explain away in the middle of the day.
Phillips is one of 8 city of Clearwater Code Enforcement Officers now dedicated to scouting neighborhoods for watering violations, and writing tickets!
Something Clearwater hasn't been doing up until this point.
"And the goal is voluntary compliance through education, communication, and cooperation," says Clearwater City Water official Dan Bates.
And we've discovered Clearwater isn't the only city that hasn't written a single ticket in the last seven months.
Cities like Temple Terrace, Plant City, Pinellas Park, and the town of Belleair have only issued warnings, anywhere from a handful to 150.
"We know that residents are far more likely to follow restrictions if they know their local government is enforcing them," explains Robyn Felix from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District is pushing cities to get tough with tickets.
Eli Franco with Tampa City Water agrees that your wallet is the most effective way get people's attention.
"We took the position back in the spring of 2006 to stop issuing warnings back when the drought started and issuing tickets or citations, as we came across violations, and that's been our position ever since," Franco explains.
In Tampa, they've written almost 1,000 citations in recent months, anywhere from $100 - $450.
Hillsborough County has doled out more than 1,800 fines. And Pinellas has handed out over 500.
During these drastic times, when some like Tampa are taking harsh measures to catch and punish water hogs, Clearwater says they just wrote their first citation in months, for $188, at an apartment complex this week.
What cities have been writing citations?Officials around the Bay say patrols will be out in full force cracking down on wasteful watering.
But we found out that some cities haven’t written a single ticket in months. To see who’s been cracking down, click
here.
Who are the top water guzzlers around the Bay Area?From North Pinellas, to St. Petersburg, to Tampa, there are homeowners using more than a million gallons of water a year.
Don Wallace, commonly known as the RV King, used over 6 million gallons of water at his Bayshore Blvd. mansion in 2008. He earns the distinction of top water user in Tampa.
To see who’s on the list of top water users in your neighborhood, click below:
Clearwater Water UsageHillsborough County Water UsagePinellas County Water UsagePlant City Water UsageSt. Petersburg Water UsageTampa Water UsageTemple Terrace Water Usage
