CAPE CORAL, Fla. — The City of Cape Coral is looking at ways to speed up the construction to bring city water to north Cape Coral.
Fox 4 spoke with a family who lives in a part of north Cape Coral that has felt the effects of the water shortage. They say they've spent thousands of dollars replacing and fixing their well, but the city's solution to bring city water to this area would only put them out more.
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"I just spent over $25,000 to fix up my water systems. Now I'm going to have to pay $35,000 in excess of my taxes, so I can have city sewer and water,” said Laurene Allen-Flower.
She lives in north Cape Coral, a part of the Utilities Extension Project (UEP) 6 area. It’s an area the city has identified as a crucial neighborhood when it comes to wells drying up.
"When we first moved in, we were having no problems at all. Then last year, with all the new construction, we had a lot of sediment in our outside water system,” said Allen-Flower. "We had to fix that at least three times."
For months, the city has encouraged conservation while we face the drier-than-normal dry season, but on Wednesday the city decided to speed up the construction for some of the crucial areas in north Cape Coral. This includes expanding UEP 6 and moving construction up by five years.
However, it still won't be done until 2030.
Council member Joe Kilraine says this is necessary for the critically low aquifer.
"The more quickly we get people on the UEP, it saves our potable water for the vital services the potable serves,” said Kilraine. "It'll buy us enough time and we can get through without a whole lot more restrictions."
Allen-Flower and many other residents have told Fox 4 the expensive assessments are still top of mind.
"We didn't ask for it, and we shouldn't be it shouldn't be forced upon us. You should figure out the money themselves, instead of making every person here have to pay for it,” said Allen-Flower.
The map now has ‘To Be Decided' on some of the north Cape Coral areas and Fox 4 will keep you up to date on their plans there.
