The South Florida Water Management District held the summit in West Palm Beach, as years of drought conditions are prompting a new look at landscaping, development patterns, delivery, metering and billing for water use.

“We need to allow only drought-tolerant grasses for new development,” said Rob Teegarden of the Florida Section of American Water Works Association. “We need to be bold and say that’s how it is. It’s not a drastic quality-of-life change.”

Panelists such as Teegarden gave their perspective on Florida’s emerging water crisis and how to deal with it. It was the first of five meetings to be held until recommendations for new rules are presented to district’s governing board in April.

“We do not have to reinvent the wheel,” SFWMD Executive Director Carol Wehle said. “There is so much good conservation out there. There’s no reason why we can’t steal what other people have done and give them credit. It’s going to stimulate us to learn more.”

Other ideas presented at the summit included: Make once-a-week watering a permanent year-round conservation ethic; Allow greater use of stormwater retention water for landscape watering; Adopt a new statewide conservation guideline called Conserve Florida; Install high-tech meters that measure and report water usage accurately, and base all billing on usage; Educate the public about the relatively cheap cost of water and the expenses associated with greater demand.

Jeff Pearson, director of Charlotte County Utilities, said his area has achieved a low rate of water use per person – about 72 gallons a day. In southeast Florida, water managers said the rate is more like 170 gallons a day.