Florida’s layered approach to sharing precious fresh-water supplies resulted in water managers having to sign off on a faraway region's relatively small increase in future supply.

That happened last month when two water management districts with a presence in Southwest Florida were required to OK plans to allow the five-county Central Florida Water Initiative around Orlando to add about 96 million gallons a day to its water budget by the mid‑2040s.

The additional water will allow for expected population growth during the next 20 years in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Polk, and the southern part of Lake County.

In a state like Florida, where water is nearly everywhere yet population growth can make clean H2O a precious commodity, lawmakers established five water management districts in the

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