Cape Coral urging residents to save water as severe drought conditions persist into May.

Cape Coral is again facing severe drought conditions as the city asks residents to voluntarily conserve water by watering their lawns no more than once a week.

According to the United States Geological Survey Drought Monitoring, Lee County is experiencing severe drought as of Thursday.

“The U.S. Geological Survey uses many different variables in determining an area’s drought intensity status. If we receive a couple of heavy rain events, our status could be downgraded, but the rain we’ve received lately across the city has been light, sporadic, and ineffective at hydrating our canals," said Jeff Pearson, Cape Coral utility director, in an email statement to the News-Press.

He said the city is pumping 13.4 million gallons daily into Gator Slough from the Southwest Aggregate Reservoir, in Charlotte County, to help rehydrate the canals.

Almost two-thirds of the water that supplies the city’s irrigation system comes from its 300 miles of freshwater canals.

The city issued a similar warning last month.

Cape Coral spokesperson Lauren Kurkimilis said canal levels and rainfall levels are low and comparable to last month's conditions.

According to the press release, current rainfall is 5.9 inches below the seasonal average.

The two-day watering schedule remains in effect, but residents are asked to reduce water usage.

"Reducing water usage now is vital to protecting Cape Coral’s water resources, so the city has increased code compliance monitoring to ensure residents are irrigating at their designated times," according to the city's press release.

Watering days and hours depend on the last number of a home address.

The city allows watering by hand with a garden hose and cut-off nozzle at any time of the day or night.

There are three emergency stages under the city's emergency water conservation plan; advisory, stage I, and stage II emergencies, so an emergency declaration by the city manager would put the city into the advisory stage.

The city manager may impose a mandatory one-day-a-week lawn watering schedule If conditions continue, the release noted.

The factors determining if this emergency measure is used are as followed:

• Water shortage levels and available sources of supply
• Available usable storage
• Storage tank drawdown rates
• System pressures
• The projected water supply capability
• Outlook for precipitation
• Daily water use patterns
• Availability of water from other sources.

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Luis Zambrano is a Watchdog/Cape Coral reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. You can reach Luis at Lzambrano@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Lz2official.