CAPE CORAL, Fla. — We use hundreds of gallons of water every day, but what happens if that just stops? Well, that’s happened to some homes in North Cape Coral.
"We need to be very diligent in our water use to preserve that existing water source,” said Mark Eisner, South Florida Water Management District.
The South Florida Water Management District told Fox 4’s Bella Line the watermark sits 90 feet below sea level in the Mid Hawthorn Aquifer right now.
That's considered dangerously low, so they say water must be conserved immediately until things start to recover.
Watch Cape Coral Community Correspondent Bella Line's full report below:
Now, the city's coming to the rescue, by bringing city water to homes that have private wells. However, that’s not so cut and dry.
"What we're doing is not working, and that's on our part, and maybe the community's part as well,” said John Gunter, Mayor of Cape Coral. “The long-term solutions, number one, is very costly. It can't happen overnight. It's, you know, two or three years down the road.”
That community, the mayor is referring to, doesn’t stop growing. Adding city water will take two years or 20, depending on where you live. Plus, it will cost the homeowners a pretty penny.
"I asked the question about, have we started that design [UEP 6]? The answer was no, that's something that we need to start right away as a council," Gunter said. "We need to fund that. We got to get that moving forward. There are some of the hard questions that we need to ask ourselves."
All council members agreed in Thursday’s meeting that the water issue was a top priority when it comes to budgeting and personnel. Many are asking for the UEP 6 project, which lies a part of the current water shortage area, to be sped up.
One thing's for sure: if the water goes much lower, there could be no more watering the lawn and no permits for new wells.
The city is also looking at grants and outside funding to offset the cost of extending city water to homeowners. Right now, that stands at around $26,000 per home.
