Drought-induced Changes in Well Water Kill Garden Plants
 (Read 100+ times)
By Robert McLean
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If you water your garden from a well, please check your well water periodically. This is a story of what could affect gardeners in areas experiencing drought.
Several years ago Florida was hit by one hurricane after the other resulting in considerable property damage and loss. The positive side of this was that it temporarily alleviated the drought that has been plaguing the Sunshine State and the rest of southeast United States for more than 10 years.
However, the southeast is still not out of the woods as far as having enough water to support the needs of the people who are increasing their numbers with the population shift that we see taking place. Florida is 20 inches of precipitation below their normal amount this year.
Prior to this latest economic downturn, Florida was growing at the rate of 300 people per day. This brought pressure to bear on the educational system, road system, and water system, among others. Numbers of school children increased each year for the last 15 years. This year (2007-2008) there was a decline of 30,000 students in Florida schools.
The real estate boom of the last several years has finally subsided. In spite of the pressure put on the water supply, there were no restrictions by county planners on the number of developments that were going up. Everyone and everything was welcomed.
However, the county governments have legal control over all water resources. The Florida aquifer, the main source of well water for south Florida, lies under a limestone layer that runs from the east Florida coast to the west coast. Lawn watering has been restricted for several years to one assigned day per week. Most people have wells that they draw on for their irrigation and many households rely on wells for drinking water.
As individuals, most residents have not been affected by the shortage. We can still turn on our faucets or water our lawns.
Up until a few years ago our family got our household and irrigation water out of the same well. At that time we took advantage of the public water line near us and connected to it for household water.
My wife is an avid gardener with a fairly extensive vegetative collection on our small lot. Four weeks ago we noticed some of the plants and shrubs showing some brown leaves. Since it had been cold for a few nights, we thought that maybe we had a touch of frost.
As time went on there were more plants with brown leaves even though the weather had turned milder. Then several whole plants turned brown and lost their leaves. We checked our well water and it tasted salty. Some of our neighbors experienced the same thing.
We live close to the coast and sea water seeped into the aquifer below us to replace the water that was being drawn out but not being replaced by rain. We can no longer use our well water and will replace the lost plants with native, drought resistant, and salt tolerating varieties.
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Author Bio Box: Robert McLean
water-testing kit, salt-tolerant plants, drought-tolerant plants
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