Potentiometric surface of the Floridan aquifer, Southwest Florida Water Management District, May 1982

A May 1982 potentiometric surface map of the Southwest Florida Water Management District depicts the annual low water-level period. Water levels in most wells measured in May 1982 were lower than in September 1981. Levels averaged about 9 feet lower in the southern part of the area and 1.5 feet lower in the north. In agricultural areas of southern Hillsborough, Manatee, southwestern Polk, southern Hardee, northwestern De Soto, and northern Sarasota Counties, water-level declines ranged from 5 feet to 29 feet. From May 1981 to May 1982, water-level increases ranged from about 3 feet in the northern counties to about 20 feet in the middle and southern counties. Water-level increases were about 4 feet in the extreme southern part of the study area.