Water shortage declared in portions of Cape Coral and unincorporated portions of Lee County

Reporter: Taylor Wirtz Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:

A water shortage has been declared, and mandatory irrigation restrictions have been issued for Cape Coral and parts of unincorporated Lee County.

According to the South Florida Water Management District, this action has been taken to protect the groundwater in the Mid-Hawthorn Aquifer.

Due to the water shortage, landscape irrigation will be limited to once weekly within the designated area for irrigation water supplied by private wells.

The South Florida Water Management District said it will lift this order as soon as aquifer conditions improve, but it hasn’t given us an estimate of how long that could be.

Your lawn might start to look a little dry, but according to Cape Coral neighbors WINK spoke with, dry and crunchy lawns are nothing new to them.

“That’s the one thing you notice is a lot of people’s grasses are brown,” said Joseph Cucuzza, Cape Coral homeowner.

Below is a list of the irrigation requirements for City of Cape Coral residents within the designated area.

  • Addresses that end in 0 can irrigate on Mondays,12-4 a.m.
  • Addresses that end in 1 can irrigate on Fridays, 4-8 a.m.
  • Addresses that end in 2 can irrigate on Thursdays, 12-4 a.m.
  • Addresses that end in 3 can irrigate on Wednesdays, 12-4 a.m.
  • Addresses that end in 4 can irrigate on Sundays, 12-4 a.m.
  • Addresses that end in 5 can irrigate on Saturdays, 12-4 a.m.
  • Addresses that end in 6 can irrigate on Thursdays, 4-8 a.m.
  • Addresses that end in 7 can irrigate on Wednesdays, 4-8 a.m.
  • Addresses that end in 8 can irrigate on Sundays, 4-8 a.m.
  • Addresses that end in 9 can irrigate on Saturdays, 4-8 a.m.

Below is a list of the irrigation requirements for the unincorporated Lee County residents within the designated area.

  • Even-numbered addresses, installations with irrigation systems that irrigate both even and odd-numbered addresses within the same zones, such as multi-family units and homeowners’ associations, and rights-of-way or other locations with no address, can irrigate only on Sundays.
  • Odd-numbered addresses can irrigate only on Saturdays.
  • Landscape irrigation users located in unincorporated portions of northeastern Cape Coral are prohibited from irrigating between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on their assigned day.
  • Low-volume irrigation (i.e., drip irrigation and microjet irrigation) shall be voluntarily reduced.
  • Hand watering of existing landscape utilizing a self-canceling nozzle is allowed anytime for no more than 10 minutes per area for stress relief or to prevent plant die-off.

Click here to learn more about water conservation from the South Florida Water Management District.

Click here to learn more about water conservation in the City of Cape Coral.

Click here to learn more about year-round irrigation restrictions from Lee County.

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