If you want to learn more about how to use water wisely head to Polk City Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Donald Bronson Center, 124 Bronson Trail.

It’s perhaps fitting to have a Water Wise Expo in Polk City, since it lies in the Green Swamp, Central Florida’s Liquid Heart, the high point in the Floridan aquifer.

The free expo will feature information on water conservation, landscaping, hurricane preparedness, Zika and the Green Swamp itself.

Although there has been some rain lately and the county burn ban is being lifted, the drought is really not over.

At the heart of a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year against the developer of a couple of upscale Lakeland residential communities is whether living on reclaimed phosphate mines is hazardous to residents’ health because of radiation emissions.

The latest chapter in this debate played out this week at a public meeting in Lakeland in which residents were reassured by scientists and technical experts from the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Industrial & Phosphate Institute that the radiation hazard was practically non-existent.

The firm that filed the lawsuit and the plaintiffs in the case see things differently, relying on a paper trail stretching back to the 1970s that appears to demonstrate health and environmental officials raised concerns when these developments were being reclaimed and undergoing development review.

Interestingly, the main potential health issue that was raised at the time in press reports was the presence of an old city dump. That facility dated from the days when there was little regulation on what kinds of waste could be dumped and there was no thought of installing liners as there are in modern landfills to protect groundwater.

How this lawsuit will play out is a matter for the judge and the jury– if it gets that far–to decide.

Another lawsuit that made similar claims regarding developments in the Bartow area was filed in the state court system decades ago. It was dismissed.

If this suit is not dismissed, the implications are interesting.

There are many residential developments all over western Polk County where residents potentially face the same health threat—if one can be established—and could be the focus of additional lawsuits.

This has regional implications as well.

As mining continues to expand in other Florida counties, the potential effect on the health of residents living in future developments that would occur after mining and reclamation have occurred is an issue that is difficult to ignore until the claims in the current lawsuit are resolved.

There are related economic issues, including the impact of any verified claims on real estate values and, by extension, on the local tax roll. The impacts are unknown at this point.

Stay tuned.

The Florida Legislature’s unwillingness to implement the constitutional amendment Florida voters approved in 2014 to restart the Florida Forever program is becoming a local election issue.

The Ledger reports that retired judge Bob Doyel has announced he will run against incumbent Kelli Stargel for the Florida Senate.

Doyel specifically criticized Stargel and her fellow legislators for ignoring the will of the voters on Amendment 1 and other citizen mandates.

The election is not until next year when some legislators promise to move forward with Amendment 1—four years after the original referendum—but making this and other shortcomings of our so-called representatives a campaign issue cannot hurt the effort.

We didn’t break any records, but it was one of the driest springs on record in Polk, according to preliminary figures compiled by the National Weather Service.

Lakeland rainfall was 315 inches. The record was 2.28 inches in 1945. Normal rainfall is 9.92 inches.

Winter Haven rainfall was 1.92 inches. The record was 1.61 inches in 2000. Normal rainfall is 8.95 inches.

Bartow rainfall was 3.09 inches The record was 2.34 inches in 1908. Normal rainfall is 8.99 inches.

Polk and surrounding counties are still under a mandatory burn ban because of the wildfire danger and under increased watering restrictions because of the stress on water supplies.