The Southwest Florida Water Management District is in the process of securing easements on public and private land in eastern Polk County to gather more information on aquifer conditions.
This is part of the Central Florida Water Initiative long-term planning to make sure water withdrawals will be sustainable.
The current conclusion is that in general there is little capacity left to withdraw large quantities of water from the Floridan aquifer, the traditional source of water in this part of Florida for most users.
So far the well sites will be located at two sites in the Green Swamp and one on the Lake Wales Ridge in Frostproof.
One Green Swamp well is on private property near Brown Shinn Road. The other will be in Hilochee Wildlife Management Area near the end of Homerun Boulevard.
The Frostproof well will be located near Lake Clinch.
These wells will be in addition to an already extensive network of monitoring wells that have existed for decades in the area.