Cape Coral considering consequences if homeowners don’t follow watering schedule

Southwest Florida’s largest city is considering consequences for homeowners if too much is used up, as the city faces a need to conserve resources.

The City of Cape Coral warned residents Tuesday its irrigation water supply is low to the point the city needs to reserve enough to feed more than 8,000 fire hydrants in the city.

Neighbors who live on the city’s freshwater canals watch the water recede every day. Some boats normally docked are left stuck in the sand.

Tom Presau can’t help but laugh at all this.

“My boat’s in the mud. My father-in-law — I just got the boat — he wants the name it ‘U.S.S Mud,’ and he keeps calling me ‘Captain Mud,’” Presau said.

Brian Sheehan knows the feeling.

He doesn’t bother putting his boat in the water.

“I worry that, if I go away for a day or two, gonna come back to that same result,” Sheehan said. “They have the same problem again.”

Neighbors along Cape Coral’s freshwater canals say the dry season hit them hard. Water levels continue to fall, and the city is getting involved.