Tampa's thirstiest citizens

TAMPA - At the same time regulators have resorted to pleading with the public for water conservation, many water meters show no signs of slowing during the drought.

City records released in response to a FOX 13 request show 16 Tampa water customers used more than one million gallons of potable water in 2008 -- just as the drought was taking hold. The top user consumed more than six million gallons last year, records show.

Notable names on the list of the top 20 customers include: New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-chairman Bryan Glazer, Outback Steakhouse CEO Bill Allen, attorney Arnold Levine, and physician Ignacio Armas.

Eli Franco, spokesman for the city's water department, identified Don and Erika Wallace as the highest users, with 6 million gallons of drinkable water passing through their meter in 2008.

The Wallaces, who own the LazyDays RV dealership and live in a lush Mediterranean-style estate on Bayshore Boulevard, consumed 16,000 gallons per day on average. That is 47 times the typical U.S. family, according to the America Water Works Association, a group of water plant operators, scientists, environmentalists, academics, and regulators founded in 1881.

"The Wallaces are proactively working to reduce water consumption," said Ben Lee, a spokesman for the Wallace family. Lee also said the Wallaces believe there is a problem with the city's pipework -- causing more water use during irrigation.

Franco, with the water department, said problems with city plumbing would not change meter readings since pipes placed beyond the meter are a homeowner's sole responsibility.

Lee said the family has also installed low-flow toilets and a water-saving clothes washer.

"I personally know the Wallaces to be extraordinarily caring about the community," Lee said.

Second to the Wallaces is politically active developer Al Austin, who in 2008 used just shy of 3.5 million gallons, according to the city . Austin lives on a sprawling six-acre homesite that includes a pond and what he calls an animal sanctuary.

"It's the biggest property in South Tampa," he said. "You have to maintain it."

Austin says most of the water he uses is for irrigation. And he says his water use would probably closer to 7 million gallons if he wasn't also using well water, which is not metered.

Austin says he and many others on the top 20 list would dramatically reduce potable usage if only the city of Tampa expanded access to reclaimed water. Lee, the spokesman for the Wallaces agreed.

City spokesman Franco said an expansion of reclaimed water service is likely years away.

At number 17 on the list of 20, Cory Lake Isles resident Kirsten Riveiro burned through just shy of a million gallons of water in 2008.

"I've got a lot of thirsty plants here," she said. "It wouldn't be fair not to give them a drink."

Despite her desire for a tropical setting surrounding her 7,000-square-foot home, Riveiro said her extraordinary water usage was thanks to her pool. It holds the same amount of water as an Olympic-sized pool, she says, and had to be drained two times in 2008 due to a leak.

"Filling this pool twice I think, in itself, probably got me on that list," she said.

She fully expects to be off the list for 2009, partly because the pool has been fixed, but also because she is selling her home amid a divorce.

Full top 20 list: