Eliot Kleinberg reminds us that West Palm Beach gets its water from surface sources, unlike other communities which get their water from wells. At last night's Lake Worth City Commission, we heard how the city will be improving its disinfection system to meet new recommended standards. If we don't do the work, we will be subject to more boil water orders. I will put up that section of the meeting today in the form of a YouTube video later on.
West Palm Beach benefitted from the deluge a few weeks ago. Click title for link. Here is a bit about their situation.
Earlier this month, when parts of Palm Beach County got up 22 inches overnight, the city’s water catchment areas got 8½ inches, Kelly [assistant city administrator Scott] Kelly said.
“We were OK before then, but this put us back to where we normally see in the middle of the rainy season,” he said.
While many South Florida cities draw water primarily from wells, West Palm Beach — which also serves Palm Beach and South Palm Beach — relies on surface water that flows 20 miles from Lake Okeechobee through canals and wetlands to Lake Mangonia and Clear Lake, just west of downtown. In 2011, the big lake was so low that gravity couldn’t carry water into the city’s system.
![Dr. W. H. Cotton’s ode: “Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!” [circa 1920].](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhHyCn84ZIQ/WezjlEL-0tI/AAAAAAAAPZ4/CzkhriK6zpEJJ3d9Je1495d49gIhnMlxACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/LakeWorthPioneers.JPG)
