Fort Myers to begin enforcing lawn watering restrictions

If you plan on watering your lawn, you should check the calendar first. The City of Fort Myers is now enforcing the irrigation restrictions it put in place to conserve water.

Fort Myers Public Information Officer Liz Bello-Matthews said, “this restriction is really only for those who received their water from the City of Fort Myers.”

Bello-Matthews said the primary reason for the need to conserve water is an increase in the number of people in Fort Myers. “Even the numbers that we saw from the census, they don’t really reflect what we are seeing in terms of population growth in the city. We actually think that the census numbers are short by about six to 7,000 people, and so the demand for water has grown quite significantly.”

The restrictions allow for watering one day per week. Below is how the city is separating who can water and when:

• Property addresses ending in an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) may water on Wednesdays
• Property addresses ending in an even number (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) may water on Sundays
• All landscape irrigation is prohibited between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to reduce evaporation
• Irrigation is also restricted for recreational, golf courses, agriculture, and nursery use.

The watering restrictions are not a problem for the Edison and Ford Winter Estates because it has its own well, but horticulture director Debbie Hughes said there are still steps everyone can take to use less water, including planting Florida-friendly plants and watering smart. “Generally, lawns are a lot of weeds. So you’re watering weeds. So irrigation needs to hit what needs irrigation.”

The City of Fort Myers will be lenient on the restrictions until Jan. 7. After that, violators will be fined. The city doesn’t have a set date of when the restriction will be lifted but says it expects it to be no later than summer.