Lee County asks residents to conserve water during dry season

Lee County asks residents to conserve water as Southwest Florida moves into the dry season.

There are several factors leading to this — low rainfall combined with more people in the area after Hurricane Ian.

While it’s dry season, some people might think you need to water your lawn more than usual, but that’s not the case, according to Tom Missimer, professor of Engineering at FGCU.

“A lot of people overwater their yards during the times of the year. In reality, if you water once a week, it’s probably more than sufficient to keep your vegetation alive,” Missimer said.

It’s important to conserve water because Lee County said water aquifers are lower than usual this year due to the dry season.

“Historically, if you look at water levels, they’re low in the dry season and high in the wet season. So it just gets exacerbated,” Missimer said. “It’s only 1.75 inches below normal. But, it’s also unevenly distributed to some areas.”

And the growing population, seasonal residents, and those working in recovery in Southwest Florida don’t help the situation.

Lee County is hoping to get ahead of the issue by asking everyone to conserve water.

While a lawn irrigation ordinance is always in effect, Missimer said everyone can do something to help the cause.

“Fixing things in houses that take up a lot of water, like leaky toilets,” he said.

Over the next few days, the county will monitor conditions to see if levels improve. If not, we could see further restrictions moving forward.