Dear Editor:

Byron Stout resorts to some pretty fuzzy logic when he begrudges water to the farmers who grow his food. He claims that "every drop of water that is held in Lake Okeechobee for them (the farmers) is being held out of the Caloosahatchee River." Simply not true.

During this drought, the South Florida Water Management District must manage a finite amount of water, for a multitude of interests, for an indefinite period of time. The water held or released from the lake is the result of careful calculations of what is needed to get the lake and the entire region through months of extended drought.

Just last week, area citrus farmers diverted about 10,000 acre feet of water allocated to their drought and freeze-damaged groves to the Caloosahatchee River. Farmers gave up precious irrigation water to help the urban utilities fight saltwater intrusion.

This illustrates the concept of shared adversity. In this drought, Glades farmers were the first to feel pain. While coastal homeowners were under "voluntary" conservation measures, farmers were slapped with Phase III water restrictions in November—cutting their irrigation water by 40 percent. Today, when homeowners are limited to watering their lawns from 4-8 a.m. twice a week and washing their cars and boats during limited evening hours, farmers’ water supplies were slashed more than 50 percent. This week’s allocation was a mere 11/100s of an inch per acre. That equates to running a typical lawn sprinkler for less than three minutes total, for the week.

Our farmers are working hard to maintain crops within the framework of the water restrictions, and with the slight rainfall we’ve had, will not even request irrigation water this week. That leaves more water in the system for everyone else. But everyone—farmers, homeowners, columnists, and tourists alike, need to pull together to make it through the ongoing drought by conserving water whenever possible. And do not begrudge your neighbor his share, as you may need him to share it with you one day.