Concern over water shortage in Cape Coral

Water is a top commodity, but Cape Coral is short of it.

Concern is flowing through Cape Coral as neighbors are seeing their canal levels low and their wells run dry.

The city has been under a water advisory since November of last year.

About $2,000– they’re not cheap, but that’s the price some people throughout Cape Coral have to pay to get running water.

“I don’t water my lawn right now. We’re being really careful with our water,” said Jack Stevenson, a Cape Coral resident. “I don’t wanna run out and burn up another pump.”

This is what Stevenson and many people across Cape Coral have to do right now because they’re afraid of turning on their sink or shower one day and seeing little to no water pressure.

“Every year, approximately this time, usually April, we start running out of water. The whole area in my neighborhood, people have to lower their wells, change their pumps. This has been going on over and over for multiple years,” he said.

Stevenson bought his home back in 2010. Since then, he has had to replace about four wells, with the last well costing him about $2,500, an expense not everyone is ready to pay right away.

The City of Cape Coral told us there had been a water shortage advisory in Northeast Cape Coral since November 2023.

We asked the South Florida Water District if they have any solution to this problem that hundreds of homes deal with every year.

They said they do, but it’s going to be a work in progress.

“They have a regional plan of over the next 15 years to have this entire area with regional water so they don’t depend on these wells for irrigations as well as domestic purposes,” said Mark Elsner, who is with the South Florida Water Management District.

As for Stevenson, he’s going to continue to conserve as much water as he can.

He even avoids planting any plants to save water and instead has several cactuses.