On paper, it looks like water use in Gainesville, Florida, is going down. But….

“We are seeing public supply water use decrease over time but population is going up,” Greco said. “So everyone is patting themselves on the back, people like myself, saying, ‘Oh, we are doing such a great job. We are conserving water.’”

But this good news wouldn’t be so good if the numbers are dropping in part because uncounted backyard well pumping is replacing irrigation from public supplies.

That’s from How Many Straws, a piece by Hannah Brown that is part of Project Blue Ether, a look at Florida water from a group at the University of Florida led by Cynthia Barnett.