Diana Wilson, General Manager of the Island Water Association, gave a presentation to Sanibel City Council on water system resiliency. The IWA is working on a Water System Master Plan, which was interrupted by COVID, Ian, Helene, and Milton, which presented other system priorities.
IWA, with 31 employees, supports 5,222 connections on Sanibel and Captiva and more than 50 miles of pipes. Sixty percent of the water used is for irrigation (“When I see everybody sprinkling, I know that’s our drinking water,” said Vice Mayor Holly Smith). IWA’s capital budget is up 200 percent since 2020, and nine new employees (or one-third of the workforce) are new employees since Hurricane Ian.
If everybody adhered to two days/week watering, Wilson said, we would not have a problem…