CAPE CORAL, FLA — Water is coming to Cape Coral, through pumps in Charlotte county.
Though we know for many of you across the city, it can't seem to come fast enough.
City Spokeswoman Maureen Buice says the crazy low water levels in local canals are happening because it's so dry.
"We expect to keep pumping until we start seeing rain," she said.
And though they're pumping tens of thousands of gallons a day, they say it will take some time before all of our freshwater canals rise back up to more normal levels.
In the meantime, they're asking you to think twice before leaving your sprinklers on longer than you should.
"If everyone follows the watering schedule there'll be enough irrigation water for all of us to use," said Buice.
They say there's an even more important reason to conserve at a time like this.
That canal water is used for our sprinklers and for fishing and boating, but in parts of the city, where you see purple hydrants, that water is also used to fight fires.
"We have to make sure that there's enough pressure for fire suppression if we should have a wildfire and other things like that," said Buice.
To help have more backup water in the future, the city has recently entered into a partnership with Fort Myers...To take on some of its "reclaimed" or "reused" water, to store for situations like this.
That water was previously being released into the Caloosahatchee River.
"Now the city of Fort Myers won't have to discharge that water into the river which can hurt the river by adding extra nutrients and the city of Cape Coral will have even more irrigation water supply for its residents," said Buice.
Cape Coral is working to build some storage facilities to hold the reclaimed water from Fort Myers.
It's also working to build a pipeline system that will allow groundwater to flow into the city more easily.
The city has already been given several million dollars in grant money to get the project started and hopes to have it done by 2023.
If you want to know where you fall on the city's watering schedule, click here.
