The planned water shutdown Cape Coral had been publishing for a week went active on Southeast 5th Place between 9.09 and 9.14 on Tuesday morning, and although its 17.86 acres make it the smallest of the city's five live boil water areas, 243 addresses sit inside it, 166 of them condominium units, which makes it the most densely populated area on the map by a factor of nearly two
Cape Coral's newest boil water area is its smallest and its most crowded.
The city moved the shutdown at 4620 Southeast 5th Place on to its active boil water layer on Tuesday morning, within a five minute window between 9.09.11 and 9.14.09. It had been on the city's scheduled shutdown layer since August 4.
The shape covers 17.86 acres, the smallest of the five areas now live. Run against the city's own address layer, it holds 243 active address points, more than every other active area except one, and that one is nearly twice its size.
That works out at 13.6 addresses per acre, against 7.4 at Hancock Bridge Parkway, 3.5 at Southeast 5th Court, 3.4 at Southeast 10th Avenue and 2.7 at Diplomat Parkway East.
The reason is that this is a condominium corridor. A hundred and sixty six of the 243 records are individual units, in twelve communities the city names as Gondolier, Coral Isle, Brian Court, Ocean Isle Rubican and Ocean Isle Rubican II, Cape Shore, Aniron, Sunshine I, Casa De Rubican, Grand Rubicon, Japser Place and Palms Court.
The area is essentially the street. Its boundary is a single ring of 26 points forming a ribbon about 2,450 feet north to south and between roughly 120 and 390 feet wide, and five points tested along its length all return Southeast 5th Place, in postcode 33904. Addresses inside it run from 4500 to 4712, with three more at 519 Southeast 47th Terrace.
This shutdown ran to plan, which the last one did not. The city published it on August 4 for August 11 and started it on August 11. The Diplomat Parkway East area, reported by this site on Monday afternoon, moved on to the active layer two days ahead of its published date with no explanation posted.
Two details in the record are worth stating plainly rather than tidying away.
The record carries two different start times, an interruption stamp reading 10:07 and hour fields reading 9 a.m. This site quoted the stamp this morning and described the shutdown as due at about ten past ten. It began at about ten past nine. On this record the hour fields were right and the stamp was not.
Its cause field reads Water Main Break. The two shutdowns still on the scheduled layer read Scheduled Shutdown, and this desk recorded every record on this service carrying Water Main Break as recently as August 10, so the field changes and is not evidence that a pipe has failed at this address. The city has published no notice saying whether one did.
Cape Coral now has five active areas covering 167.45 acres and 855 active address points. The city lifted two areas around Skyline Boulevard at about a quarter past seven this morning, taking the map from four to five once this one started.
Cape Coral runs its own water system, separate from Lee County Utilities, which publishes a different map.
The instruction inside the area is the city's standard one. Residents are advised to bring water to a rolling boil for one minute before drinking it, cooking with it, washing their hands, making ice, brushing their teeth, washing dishes, rinsing raw foods or preparing any other drink, including baby bottles, or to use bottled water instead. Showering and doing laundry are not restricted.
The city is equally direct that a notice is not a finding about the water. Its published guidance states that the State Department of Health requires a precautionary notice when a line break leaves the system at zero or negative pressure, and that one may also be issued when a main break causes pressure to drop below 20 psi or when routine samples show low disinfection residual. Asked on its own page whether this means the water is unsafe, the city answers no, and says the guidelines require the notice and that this does not always mean the drinking water is contaminated.
A planned start does not mean a quick finish. The city states it must receive two consecutive days of clear laboratory results before it can issue a rescission, and that the laboratory is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. No expected lift date has been published for any of the five areas.
Two shutdowns remain on the calendar, at 1019 Southeast 43rd Street on Wednesday and 1108 Southeast 39th Terrace on August 18.
Anyone checking their own status should note that these notices apply by mapped shape rather than by street name, so an address just outside a boundary is not covered and one inside it is. The city has notified affected residents electronically since 2015, by text message or telephone call rather than by hand delivered notice, and residents can update the contact details it holds for them.
