FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Patricia DiPiero, Lee County Utilities
                (941) 479-8181

FORT MYERS, Fla. (February 14, 2001) – Lee County Utilities is urging its customers to conserve water and strictly abide by watering restrictions to avoid a water crisis that is becoming more serious by the day.

The South Florida Water Management District declared a severe water shortage and implemented Phase II water use restrictions on November 29, 2000. Despite Phase II restrictions, the county’s utilities still have not achieved a target reduction of 30 percent in water usage and decrease in water plant system pressure to 45 pounds per square inch.

Drought conditions resulted in Year 2000 average rainfall in the 16-county area of 39.44 inches (driest year since 1938’s 38.92 inches) and are expected to continue through April.

Phase II restrictions limit lawn watering and car washing to 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. on the following days:

• Wednesday and Saturday for addresses ending in odd numbers.
• Thursday and Sunday for addresses ending in even numbers, including 0.
• Car washing and hand watering allowed in low volumes on same days from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The restrictions apply to water supplied from utilities, individual wells and surface water sources such as canals, lakes, ponds and rivers.

Lee County will be training and granting citation powers to an additional 30, mostly utilities, employees on Thursday to help police violations of water restrictions. To report people in your area violating the Phase II restrictions, call the appropriate code enforcement or law enforcement agency in your area.

For more information on water conservation, you can call these agencies or visit their web sites on the Internet:

• South Florida Water Management District, 338-2929, www.sfwmd.gov, or SFWMD Fort Myers Service Center web site at www.sfwmd.gov/org/exo/ftmyers/index.html.

• Lee County Utilities, 479-8181, www.lee-county.com/utilities.