Southwest Florida's Biggest Reservoir Is Half Empty. Officials Say That's the Plan.

The Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority's reservoir was designed for 6 billion gallons. It holds roughly 3 billion. In March, pumps drew an average of 8.73 million gallons per day from the Peace River but sent more than triple that out to Sarasota, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties. The difference came from reserves.

"That's why it was built, to handle stuff like this," executive director Richard Anderson told Suncoast Searchlight. Glenn Compton of ManaSota-88 has watched this cycle before. "History has shown us that voluntary water restrictions do not work." They're not voluntary anymore.