David Lindsay

While Lehigh Acres receives short showers off and on during the summer months and most front lawns are green, the community is in deficit when it comes to how much water that has been retained.

That’s the information today in a report released by the East County Water Control District which notes there was a slow start to this year’s wet season with an average of 32.21 inches of rain from May to August.

This is five inches less than the average rainfall for the last five years, whose total rings in at 37.21 inches, according to Carla Ulakovic, an ECWCD community project specialist.

She said that the district’s rainfall for August 2014 was 7.53 inches, which is 2.16 inches above July’s numbers.

However, the average August rainfall in this year is still short, she said, by 16 percent, when compared to the average rainfall for August during the last five years.

The district should not to be confused with Lehigh’s FGUA, which provides drinking water and sewage disposal to some areas, while most residents in Lehigh depend on well water and septic tank storage. There is no connection between the two services.

In addition to ECWCD’s management of Lehigh canals, waterways and rights-of-way to help provide draining to prevent flooding and proper recharge to aquifers, the district records rainfall throughout Lehigh by way of computers that collect information throughout the community and brings those rain inch numbers back to ECWCD’s main offices at 601 E. County Lane, off Lee Blvd.

David Lindsay, the district manager, says the area has seen intermittent dry weather with periods of modest rain this summer.

As noted in the report, Lehigh’s 311 miles of canals, operated by ECWCD, collect stormwater naturally and from road run-off. Canals help to store water and move the excess from roads and ditches with the aid of water control structures and retention areas.

A healthy wet season provides the necessary recharge to local aquifers and offsets the depletion experienced during the dry season, Lindsay said.

The western portions of the district, near Homestead Rd., Sunshine Blvd., and Gunnery Rd. have experienced less rain than the eastern portions of the district and canal levels are approximately two feet below levels of a normal rainy season.

“We are close to 75 percent through our rainy season, and were anticipating higher rainfall averages than we have received,” Lindsay said. “Usually , our canals and waterways are at optimum levels by the first week in July. However, we still have a month until the end of the official rainy season and hope totals improve. In the meantime, staff is working to ensure we are holding back as much water as possible.”

Ulakovic said ECWCD wants to remind residents that even during the wet season, water conservation is crucial. The increased rainfall experienced during the rainy season is oftentimes enough to meet the maintenance needs of most lawns and landscapes.

However, residents are encouraged to reset their irrigation times for shorter watering times, fewer days during the rainy season.

According to the report, South Florida Water Management District currently does not have water shortage restrictions in place for its 16-county area, but residents should be following the year-round landscape irrigation rule, which follows:

– If your home address ends with an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7, 9), you may water Wednesdays and/or Saturdays from midnight to 8 a.m. and/or 5 p.m. until midnight.

– If your home address ends with an even number (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) or no address, you may water Thursday and/or Sundays from midnight to 8 a.m. and/or 5 p.m. until midnight.

More information on water restrictions for Lee County can be found online at: www.leegov.com/giv/dept/Utilities/Pages?WaterRestrictions.aspx.

Lindsay spoke at the monthly luncheon of the Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 26 and presented an overall update of the operations of the East County Water Control District.