FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FORT
MYERS, Fla. (April 24, 2002) – The Board of Lee County Commissioners on
Tuesday (April 23) approved Water and Wastewater Facilities Plans that will
qualify the county to participate in low-interest loans from the State to fund
construction for several water and sewer projects.
The
loans 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
loan rate for repayment is presently 3.07 percent, but will vary depending upon
the loan application for each project. The
county will be seeking up to $50 million for water projects and $29 million for
sewer projects.
The
facilities plans detail the county’s water and sewer development and expansion
plans over the next several years. Loans
will be reviewed and approved on a project-by-project basis.
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 (mgd)
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.
Some
of the other potential projects include expansions of the Olga Water Treatment
Plant (to 10 mgd), Corkscrew Water Treatment Plant (to 15 mgd), Gateway
Wastewater Treatment Plant (to 5 mgd), and Fiesta Village Wastewater Treatment
Plant (to 5 mgd).
The county’s Utilities Division provides more than 141,000 residents potable water and wastewater services in certain areas of unincorporated Lee County. Its service area is about 450 square miles. 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.