Water bills, or a city gone wild (Cape Coral, Iona: homes, buyer)

[equalrightsforeveryone]

Originally Posted by Izmack

Water rights = the right to access available water. It does not give one a deed to the water itself. Check it out.

?

You must be joking.

[Izmack]

Originally Posted by equalrightsforeveryone

You must be joking.

Not at all. We have a well up north, so I am well aware of the situation. Any water that feeds my well is shared across the whole community.

[equalrightsforeveryone]

You do not comprehend the term water rights. Just because you have a well does not necessarily mean that you own the water rights.
From the findlaw site. "Water rights are treated similarly to rights to real property, can be conveyed, mortgaged, and encumbered in the same manner, all independently of the land on which the water originates, or on which it is used. " you can find more there if your interested.
When you own the water rights on a property ALL the water that you can access on your property is yours.
I own mineral rights out west, I do not own the land yet all the valuable minerals on the claim are mine and no one else's. It's called a unpatented claim.

[nhkev]

this is actually an interesting discussion. water rights are typically talking about water rights of water bodies.. be it a stream,brook, lake, pond. But when you buy "real property" you own the boundaries as well as technically as deep as you can go, and air rights above..... but what is interesting at least from my experience, is when it comes to bodies of water the state owns all the water, and the landowner can own up to the highwater mark, and the feds own the shorelines of the oceans. When it comes to rivers and brooks it has to do whether it is navigable or not. So when it comes to subterraneous water do we have "water rights" In mass I had to get a permit before drilling, and the DEP had to approve well and septic in NH . Regardless is Cape Coral put it in it's charter long before the North cape was developed that all lots had to go on city water and sewer. The builders didn't want to wait for city utlilities because they had impatient buyers so they put in the well and septic knowing that city utilities were coming therefore cannot be grandfathered in. If someone had a well and septic before the charter they may be able to be grandfathered and not be subject.

[Izmack]

Do you think there's a self-contained bubble under your property that no one else has access to?! Give me a break. Groundwater is constantly flowing within the aquifer. What's under your property today will be down the block in a week. Like I said - you have the right to access the water....

Originally Posted by equalrightsforeveryone

You do not comprehend the term water rights. Just because you have a well does not necessarily mean that you own the water rights.
From the findlaw site. "Water rights are treated similarly to rights to real property, can be conveyed, mortgaged, and encumbered in the same manner, all independently of the land on which the water originates, or on which it is used. " you can find more there if your interested.
When you own the water rights on a property ALL the water that you can access on your property is yours.
I own mineral rights out west, I do not own the land yet all the valuable minerals on the claim are mine and no one else's. It's called a unpatented claim.

[nhkev]

I'm on my smartphone so I can't post link. Loooks like according to florida groundwater laws there are no property interests involved in water. Water is owned by the state and must get permits to put in wells but permits are revocable and flxible. Makes it sound if public well available they wouldn't approve private

[Izmack]

You got it. So we can put this to bed:

From http://www.weblocator.com/attorney/fl/law/comreal.html: (broken link) Water Law


With the purchase or sale of real estate comes certain air rights, mineral rights and water rights. Water rights include the use of underground water as well as water that touches the owner's property. Landowners whose property touches flowing water are riparian owners, which means they have the right to use the bordering water for reasonable and beneficial use, such as boating, swimming and other recreational purposes. Riparian owners do not, however, have any actual ownership of the water itself, and may not legally divert the water to land that does not adjoin the stream or lake. An owner may not use the adjoining water in a way that affects the quality or availability of the water further upstream, downstream or down the coast, by polluting the water or changing its flow.

Originally Posted by nhkev

I'm on my smartphone so I can't post link. Loooks like according to florida groundwater laws there are no property interests involved in water. Water is owned by the state and must get permits to put in wells but permits are revocable and flxible. Makes it sound if public well available they wouldn't approve private

[nhkev]

I'm not suure about putting the whole thing to bed. It seems that the states version is the water is available for use, unless there is a threat to the supply, or you are disturbing it's quality.

I expect everyone should have to pay for the assessments because that was decided by the city long beforehand. Everyone should have to pay a water availability fee to split the yearly cost... but if someone has a well and choses to use it and their water system and avoid usage fees I can't see how the city can say they can't use their private wells and avoid usage fees. Afterall it's not the cities water. So maybe this is what this article is all about is there are 19000 people in the city that have water available that have yet to pay an assessment????

And I don't know if it's necesarily true that you can't use the wells anymore once city water is available.. I thought some people were still using them for irrigation

[CCRESI]

Originally Posted by equalrightsforeveryone

"The average monthly water and sewer bill is $111.26 and will go to $119.49 next year, City Councilman Kevin McGrail said. Another 8 percent hike in 2012 would raise it to about $129."

Unbelievable.
Talk about sticking it to the citizens of Cape Coral, your friendly Government at work.

Equal, what was your point in the first place?Are you on city water?
Why are they increasing the rate?
What's better for the environment?
Where does city water come from? Well?

[Taratova]

If one has a well and also hooked up to city water, can the sprinkler system pump water out of the well to water the lawn ? I heard that if you have city water , your well cannot be used for any purpose.. that city water has to water your lawn and the homeowner has to pay even for the water that keeps the lawn green. anybody know?