The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel helping solve Cape Coral’s water shortages during dry season just might be within reach after all.

Utilities Director Jeff Pearson informed City Council Monday night of a plan to acquire 1,030 acres of aggregate mining property on U.S. 41 to use as a reservoir capable of doubling the city’s reuse water from its 300 miles of freshwater canals for irrigation purposes.

“This is such a great project,” said Councilmember Richard Leon. “While it is self-serving for Cape Coral, it helps the surrounding area like North Fort Myers and Charlotte County, even the state as a whole. Hopefully, the governor’s office will recognize this as well.”

Access to the water would come from water that currently builds up in Charlotte County and North Fort Myers in rainy season. When I-75 and U.S. 41 were built, it created a dam effect to the natural sheet flow.

“There are millions of gallons of water just sitting there in Charlotte County, just pooling up,” said Pearson. “And North Fort Myers has flooding problems during the rainy season.”

Pearson estimated the reservoir would be able to provide 12.5 million gallons of water per day for the 120 days of dry season. It would store more than 1.5 billion gallons of water in addition to the 2 billion gallons of storage in the canals.

Preliminary cost estimates, Pearson said, to build the northeast reservoir would take $32 to $38 million, including purchase of the land, making improvements to the storage area, adding a pump house and piping to transfer the water to Gator Slough.

Because of the environmental impact on the region, the city is hoping the state will help bear the cost of the project.

Pearson said the first step is to “test drive” the concept at a cost of about $320,000. The money would go toward a temporary agreement with the land owner to use the property, piping and rental of pumps to transfer water from the mine to the canal system. The process would be monitored by consultants, geologists and engineers for 120 days to determine if the process works and is cost effective for the city.

Pearson said the cost for the test could be “a wash” by selling the dredge spoilage back to the mine owner.

Approval by the South Florida Water Management District then would be sought before going forward.

City officials spent time in Tallahassee last week working legislators to pass House Bill 3639 appropriating a one-time sum of $2.5 million toward the reservoir project to take effect July 1, 2017. The funds are now in the state budget awaiting Gov. Rick Scott’s approval.

Pearson also told council that the city’s enhanced enforcement of the irrigation watering schedule has produced 2,000 citations in March, but it has had little effect on slowing the water level dip in city canals.

In another water related project, the Florida DEP has awarded $600,000 to Cape Coral to upgrade some 300 stormwater catch basins and install enhanced swales in a 725-acre area west of Burnt Store Road.

The new catch basins will allow for more stormwater runoff to filter into the ground instead of flowing through storm drains and into canals and ultimately Charlotte Harbor, a natural estuary and the state’s second largest bay.