FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Rick Diaz, Lee County Utilities, (941) 479-8181, or
                Jim Lewin, Lee County Budget Services, 335-2336

FORT MYERS, Fla. (April 17, 2001) – The Board of Lee County Commissioners today approved applying for a low-interest loan from the State to fund construction planning for several water and sewer projects.

The $4.669-million loan would come from the State Revolving Fund (SRF) for water and wastewater capital projects, which is administered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The anticipated loan rate for repayment is 3.27 percent.

The money will pay for pre-construction activities such as preparing facilities plans and doing the design and engineering for the projects. The facilities plans will form the basis for applying for future construction loans through the SRF.

One of the anticipated projects for a construction loan is the proposed $30-million North Lee County Water Treatment Plant off Durrance Road in North Fort Myers, which would have an initial treatment capacity of five million gallons per day of potable water by drawing brackish water from the Lower Hawthorne Aquifer and treating it through a reverse osmosis process. The plant could be expanded to a total capacity of 10 million gallons per day in the future.

The proposed plant will reduce the county’s reliance on drawing water from the Caloosahatchee River, which, due to recent saltwater intrusion, has increased levels of sodium and chloride at the county’s Olga Water Treatment Plant.

Some of the other potential projects include the construction of the Airport Sewer District Wastewater Treatment Plant, and expansion of the Fiesta Village Wastewater Treatment Plant and Corkscrew and Green Meadows water treatment plants.

The county’s Utilities Division serves 48,500 water and 33,600 sewer customers in portions of North, East and South Lee County. The county operates five wastewater-treatment plants – Fort Myers Beach, Fiesta Village, Waterway Estates, Highpoint and Pine Island – with a total of 10-million gallons of capacity per day, and five water-treatment plants – College Parkway, Corkscrew, Green Meadows, Olga and Waterway Estates – with a combined 26-million gallons of capacity per day. The Utilities Division has an annual operating budget of about $27 million.