134 CONSERVATION OF GROUND WATER 



of the county, is contaminated with salt water by subter- 

 ranean movement from the sea. 



Tampa once depended upon wells near Tampa Bay for its 

 supply, but these wells became contaminated with sea water 

 about 25 years ago. The city now obtains its water from 

 the Hillsborough River, in an area where wells could pro- 

 vide an ample supply of water free of the "organic" color 

 that appears intermittently in the river water. Wells north 

 of Tampa Bay yield about 30 million gallons a day (not in- 

 cluding the draft by St. Petersburg's wells), and large addi- 

 tional ground-water supplies can be developed if wells are 

 located at sufficient distance from the bay. 



Saline water has been drawn from adjacent brine-bearing 

 formations into the overdeveloped portions of some ground- 

 water reservoirs. In the Lake Charles industrial area and ad- 

 jacent rice-growing areas of southwest Louisiana, salinity is 

 greatest in the areas where water levels have been depressed 

 most by pumping, and it appears that the pumping is draw- 

 ing up water from underlying beds that carry saline waters 

 (page 106). At Fort Pierce and at Stuart, Fla., salt water has 

 moved upward through leaky wells into the developed artesian 

 aquifer. In the Winter Garden area of Texas, the developed 

 aquifer lies under the formation that carries the unusable 

 waters. 



Winter Garden, Tex. 62 The Winter Garden area includes 

 several counties in southern Texas which have specialized 

 in producing the vegetables that appear in northern cities 

 during the winter. The use of water for irrigation has in- 

 creased considerably in the past 10 years. In 1940 about 

 22,000 acres was irrigated from wells in Dimmit and Zavala 

 Counties, and the use was about 1 acre-foot per acre. In 

 1949, 50,000 acres was irrigated by pumping from wells, 

 and since much of the land produced two crops in the year, 



62 Reference: Texas Board of Water Engineers, Progress rept. for the period 

 Sept. 1, 1946-Aug. 31, 1948, pp. 119-125, 1948. 



