Cape Coral needs water and it’s going to get more of it from a reservoir in Charlotte County the city council agreed to buy for $38 million.
City Council voted Wednesday to buy 1,202 acres of land with plans for pipe connections to supplement Cape Coral’s irrigation system, which has enough water for its citizens in the wet season but not the dry. And it will need more as the city continues to grow.
“The system that we have, the reliability for the system primarily depends on the canal levels remaining static, especially during the dry season,” Cape Coral Utilities Director Jeff Pearson told Cape Coral City Council on Wednesday. “During the dry season, when normal rainfall patterns don’t materialize, we have frequent dry conditions, and it has required us to pump supplemental water from this property into the US. 41 swales.”
Cape Coral has experienced water shortages and irrigation restrictions, forcing city officials to find water elsewhere. The city began pumping water from the reservoir in 2017 through an agreement with its owners, Pierson said. Cape Coral also gets water from the city’s two water reclamation facilities and two reclaimed water interconnects with the Florida Governmental Utility Authority and Fort Myers.