This past April was the 12th driest here since record-keeping started, and while a small amount of rain fell in May, cumulative rainfall is about 4 inches below normal for the first five months of the year.
A relatively dry winter has thus increased demand for the reclaimed water that is piped to the island for irrigation purposes by both the city and the county.
Vero Beach supplies reclaimed water to more than 2,000 residences in developments north of Beachland Boulevard. It is a pressurized system and when many of these homes draw water at roughly the same, the pressure decreases, said the city’s water and sewer director Robert Bolton.
The mains that bring the reclaimed water are too small for the demand, which creates a pressure problem pretty much every winter until the spring rains come, Bolton said.
The system has an 8-million-gallon holding tank near the 17th Street Causeway and a 1-million-gallon holding tank behind Indian River Shores Town Hall. That is about a two-to-three-day supply.
The county also provides reclaimed water to communities farther north on the island, but it is not a pressurized on-demand system. When needed, water is pumped into holding ponds in the communities.
“With this dry spell, the ponds are low and there is a higher demand to replenish that reclaimed water,” said Sean Lieske, the county’s water and sewer director. “That is true across the whole county and not just on the beach.”
Because of the danger of fire caused by dry conditions, Indian River County issued an Emergency Order on May 7 prohibiting outdoor burning of yard trash, bonfires, campfires, outdoor fireplaces and cooking fires, except contained gas and charcoal grills.
The Keetch-Byram Drought Index averaged 500-549 in April and May – which means the area needs 5 to 6 inches of rain to reach a saturation that makes wildfires unlikely, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture.
“It’s very dry in Indian River County and the potential is very real for wildfire,” said David Grubich, public information officer for the Okeechobee District of the Florida Forestry Service, which includes Indian River County. People should be careful where they dispose of hot coals after grilling, he said.
In addition to accidental fires, with present conditions, every lightning strike has the potential to start a wildfire, Grubich said. Two recent wildfires in western Indian River County appear to have been started by lightning, he said.
