We can’t stress enough how important it is that you conserve water right now. We are in a drought. We live in Florida, it’s hard to imagine we are in the middle of a drought since we are surrounded by water. However, the water we need to survive comes from underground aquifers. As the underground aquifers are depleted we are risking running out of water to use in our homes and on our yards. We are also running the risk of developing sink holes.
Sink holes occur when there is a shift in the earth’s foundation. The causes of the shifting of the earth’s foundation may be natural or man made. Man made sink holes are usually caused by a construction related activity such as drilling, digging or compacting. Natural sink holes appear as a result of the earth shifting or weakening in a particular area and the ground collapsing.
We have made up another cause of sink holes – the natural man made sink hole. This is not an official classification, just an theory of ours based on what we feel will be the cause of many new sink holes in the future – lack of water conservation!
The water aquifers under ground serve as a foundation for the limerock of Central and Southern Florida to sit on. When the aquifers are diminished so is the support it provided for the earth above. The end result is a collapse of land – a sink hole.
Think of a raft floating in a pool. It will continue to float and hold your weight as long as there is water underneath it. When the water underneath the raft is gone, the raft will collapse. The water in the pool is acting as a foundation for the raft just as our underground water is acting as a foundation for our land.
Failure to conserve water is going to lead to many sink holes in the future. We cannot stress enough how important it is to adhere to local city and county water restrictions. Only water your yard when you need to. By now you should have been cutting back slowly on your irrigation timer to prepare your yard for drought season. Applying more water now will shock your grass and it will not properly go into dormancy.
Furthermore, watering your yard when you are not permitted to is against the law and is putting another property owner at risk of developing a sink hole because you added to the depletion of a water aquifer.
Most folks will HEAR the news about the importance of adhering to watering restrictions for their irrigation systems or garden hoses but many will not LISTEN. Be a responsible South Florida citizen by closely following city and county watering restrictions. In the process you may help prevent unnecessary sink holes.
For an up to date list of current city and county watering restriction please visit our website at:
