{"id":65125,"date":"2026-04-23T17:58:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=65125"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:58:56","slug":"upper-peace-river-likely-to-go-dry-as-swiftmud-halts-water-releases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/04\/23\/upper-peace-river-likely-to-go-dry-as-swiftmud-halts-water-releases\/","title":{"rendered":"Upper Peace River likely to go dry as Swiftmud halts water releases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The situation for the Upper Peace River<\/strong> (UPR) has become critical. As of today, April 23, 2026<\/strong>, the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) has officially announced it is closing the P-11 water control structure<\/strong> at Lake Hancock.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Here is the breakdown of why this is happening and what to expect:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the releases are halting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Due to an ongoing extreme drought and a regional rainfall deficit of nearly 13 inches<\/strong>, water levels in Lake Hancock have dropped to their minimum required levels.<\/sup> To protect the lake’s own ecology and prevent it from falling further, the District must stop discharging water into the river.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local Impact: Bartow to Fort Meade<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Dry Riverbed:<\/strong> Portions of the river between Lake Hancock and Fort Meade<\/strong> are expected to go dry and become completely non-navigable within the next few days.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Duration:<\/strong> The river is expected to remain in this state until the summer rainy season begins, typically in June<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Wildlife:<\/strong> The District has warned that fish kills<\/strong> are likely as water recedes into isolated, low-oxygen pools.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Regional Water Restrictions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    This move follows the District\u2019s recent declaration of a Modified Phase III “Extreme” Water Shortage<\/strong>.<\/sup> For those in the Lakeland and Polk County area, this means:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • One-day-per-week watering:<\/strong> Strictly enforced based on the last digit of your address.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Stricter Hours:<\/strong> Outdoor irrigation is generally limited to before 4 a.m. or after 8 p.m.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Historically, the Lake Hancock level modification project (completed in 2015) has prevented the river from going dry during most winters, but the severity of the 2025-2026 drought has finally exhausted that storage capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The situation for the Upper Peace River (UPR) has become critical. As of today, April 23, 2026, the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) has officially announced it is closing… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDRcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTItOC53ZWJwP2ZpdD0zMDAlMkMxNjgmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJVcHBlciBQZWFjZSBSaXZlciBsaWtlbHkgdG8gZ28gZHJ5IGFzIFN3aWZ0bXVkIGhhbHRzIHdhdGVyIHJlbGVhc2VzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.6lywXTDL4eTyfb02wcowDOYwVZYl6Y72i2hO1TbGDb8MQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA0XC9kb3dubG9hZC0yLTgud2VicCIsInR4dCI6IlVwcGVyIFBlYWNlIFJpdmVyIGxpa2VseSB0byBnbyBkcnkgYXMgU3dpZnRtdWQgaGFsdHMgd2F0ZXIgcmVsZWFzZXMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.RNb287m2bpfTVu95R4EaA57hYrABj1EIyzBUGBnkM-wMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14446],"class_list":["post-65125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-upper-peace-river-likely-to-go-dry-as-swiftmud-halts-water-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65127,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65125\/revisions\/65127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}