Lack of rainfall causing Cape wells to dry up, costing homeowners money

Some homeowners in Cape Coral are seeing low groundwater levels in the aquifer brought on by current drought-like conditions in SWFL. The low levels are causing wells to go dry, costing people money.

Much of SWFL is currently listed as “abnormally dry to severe” in terms of the drought index. And it’s creating extensive problems across the state.

“No water for a weekend, for a day or anything like that, it’s a big deal. It disrupts a house,” said Cape Coral homeowner Kyle Clements.

For Clements, that disruption first started Saturday.

“We had to take showers with gallons of water. I had to get buckets of water from my neighbor to flush my toilets,” he said.

And this isn’t the first time the family of five has been without water.

“We’re drying up. They dropped 25 feet of pipe last year and this year they dropped another 20 feet of pipe to get to the aquifer,” Clements said.

According to USGS data, well levels in northeast Cape Coral are low, but not quite as low as this time last year.

“During rainy season in NE Cape, (there’s a) 40 to 50 feet static water table. Right now, we are at 105 to 125 feet, so the aquifer is not replenishing itself fast enough,” said Tim Lane, a senior technician with Crystal Water.

This is why several homeowners are seeing their wells dry up, and the problem is costly.

“If they burn their well up and we have to lower it, it could cost anywhere from $1100 to $1500,” Lane said.

For now, Clement’s water may be temporarily restored. But between the lack of rainfall and new developments coming soon, he says the problem isn’t going away anytime soon.