As the drought in Southwest Florida continues – Charlotte County is stepping up its efforts to enforce water use restrictions.

Most of Charlotte County – except for the Babcock Ranch – and the area immediately surrounding it – lies in the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Faced with increasing demand and no increase in supply – in 2001 the district limited lawn irrigation to once a week. Charlotte County Utilities Leigh Spriemont says in light of the lingering drought – that rule will be more strictly enforced.

“We are going to be dedicating 3 of our staff members fulltime to enforce the watering restrictions and distributing the warnings. They will be assigned to specific parts of the county and will be driving around on the lookout for watering violations and issuing warnings and educational materials to ensure that our customers are aware of the restrictions and are following them”

Spriemont stresses that the restrictions include water from all sources – including wells on private property. Ninety five percent of Charlotte County’s water comes from the Peace River – the rest is slightly salty ground water that’s treated with reverse osmosis.

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Charlotte County is stepping up enforcement of water use restrictions. Three staff members will be on the lookout fulltime for violators – issuing warnings and handing out educational materials about the need to conserve. Lawn irrigation in Charlotte County is allowed only one day a week – on Tuesday or Sunday – depending on address. Charlotte County Utilities Leigh Spriemont – says this means ALL water.

“our restrictions and the SW Florida water management district restrictions apply to all water sources – that include public water supplies like charlotte county utilities as well as private wells, canals, any water source other than reclaimed water is covered under those restrictions”

Most of Charlotte County’s water comes from the Peace River. The ongoing drought has significantly reduced flow in the river – leading to the increased effort to manage water use.