On Cape Coral canals:
To the editor:
We continue to hear from residents who complain about not being able to use their freshwater canals, during the dry season mostly, who are unable to use their watercraft as they wish to due to low water levels. There is a misunderstanding among many Cape Coral residents about what the purposes are for the canal’s existence.
First and foremost the reason for maintaining our canals is for storm water retention. The reason for the 5-foot depth below the controlling structure (weir) is to maintain capacity needed for the many inches of rainfall coming off our streets and yards during and following storms. In fact all seawall heights are relative to the elevation of the weir for that system.
Secondly, the reason for our canals is water quality. The time the water spends behind these weirs allows pollutants and solids to settle to the bottom of the canals before this water escapes over the weirs to merge with our salt water estuaries. Because the settled material has pollutants in it, we cannot just take dredged material and put it to use but must store it to allow drain or leaching to occur before the treated soil is used anywhere. In fact we can expect increased costs to insure the quality of the water dumping into our canals with addition mandates coming from the DEP.
Third, the freshwater canals are our main source of additive for treated wastewater for City irrigation needs. The canals in the extreme northeast part of Cape Coral are the first to see a drop in elevation during the dry season because all the canals typically flow toward the south. And as the City Utility Department draws canal water at their pump houses for irrigation uses the water is pulled more and more from the north sectors to fill this need. Unless I’m mistaken there is great concern that there may not be even enough canal water to provide the dual water the city will need in the future when our population gets higher.
Fourth, the Fire Department has some claims to a percentage of canal water for obvious reasons. Just how much that is I don’t know.
And lastly the issue of navigation is mentioned, and I only mention it because it is not a part of the reason the canals exist, even though many residents believe otherwise. Nowhere in the City Stormwater Ordinance does it talk about navigation or anything to do with boats. Boating is a pleasant by-product of the canals being there in our backyards but it is only by chance that boating exists. The money paid through the Stormwater Fee is the only money that can be used to maintain the canal systems, and these fees are backed by language in the State Constitution and State Statute. So nobody’s property taxes are used to dredge or clean any canal or other part of the Stormwater System. Street sweeping, swale maintenance, storm inlet and pipes and canal dredging is all covered from one fee collected annually.
But not navigation. If navigation were to become a criteria for our canal work then we would need addition dredging, which isn’t covered now but would most likely need additional funds. Would only water front properties pay that additional fee? Would all registered boats pay additional fees? How do you justify a homeowner not on water with no boat paying for your navigational needs? These questions all need answers.
D.A. Kenney
Cape Coral