When in "Drought" — fill your pool!

I’ve been watching and paying close attention to the Skypoint Condo construction at 777 Ashley Drive in downtown Tampa since they broke ground in June of 2005. The first inhabitants of the building are due to start arriving early in June as units begin closing proceedings.

And with the construction crew finalizing details in and around the tower, I must voice a complaint.

Like I said, I’ve been following Skypoint closely since 2005… Usually by way of conversation on Skyscraper City or web cams provided by TECO (now defunct) and Ox Blue. With the Ox Blue cam specifically, anyone can view the progress on Skypoint from July 2005 until current.

What you can also find is photographic proof of the Skypoint-resident-only pool being drained and re-filled three times within the last month while Tampa and much of Florida are in severe drought conditions. I don’t think I need explain how many thousands of gallons it takes to fill a pool or emphasis the waste.

Check it for yourself — go to their flash webcam site and jump to April 18th (use the calendar on the left hand side that pops up) — the day of the first filling. The pool stays full until May 3rd when it’s drained during the course of day. Five days later, on May 8th, the pool is refilled again and then abruptly drained for the second time on May 14th. The third filling took place just this Monday (May 20th) and it is still full as of May 23.

Three fillings in a pool that no one has yet used, in a building where no one yet lives. I wonder if the city of Tampa even considers that a violation, seeing that they are suggesting you tattle on neighbors using too much water.