Water experts predict that central Florida will run out of drinkable water in five years. Water experts have known for decades that the flow eventually would slow to a trickle, said Ed Fernald, a retired Florida State University professor who wrote the Florida Water Resource Atlas and is the state's official geographer. "Taking water out of the ground is like taking money from the bank - you've got to put it back or you'll be out," said Fernald.
Unless rampant growth in Central Florida slows dramatically in the next five years or new sources of drinking water are discovered, the area's rivers, lakes and streams will start to dry up permanently, local officials say. By then, the damage to the underground water system will be so bad that neither it nor the surface water system may be able to recover.