growing demand '72-'92 (continued)

From 1980 to 1990, population in the Hillsborough-Pasco-Pinellas tri-county region grew from approximately 869,000 to 1,967,000.  By 1998, the area’s population exceeded 2 million.  Demand for water outpaced the West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority’s development of new supply.  Increased demand combined with a five-year drought revealed the effects to the environment of intensive groundwater pumping in the absence of rainfall and outraged citizens who lived near impacted lakes and wetlands.

As the region suffered through the drought and severe water restrictions, it was clear that new alternative supplies had to be developed.