They spent hundreds of hours pushing state legislators to pass a bill that would protect water in Pasco County and won a lukewarm victory at the final minute last week.

Just days after weary legislators OK'd a bill forcing the state to set minimum lake and wetland levels in the Tampa area, activists are already mapping out ways to get tougher water legislation passed in Tallahassee next year.

They're launching a vigorous campaign to get a desalination plant built in the Tampa area. And they're continuing efforts to file a class action lawsuit against water suppliers and users like Pinellas County, which they believe has sucked large swaths of Pasco dry.