FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

Contact:  Pete Winton, Lee County Administration

               (239) 335-2777

NORTH LEE COUNTY WATER TREATMENT PLANT CONSTRUCTION STARTS

FORT MYERS, Fla. (November 6, 2003) - Lee County is starting construction on its newest water treatment plant - the North Lee County Water Treatment Plant in North Fort Myers - Wednesday (Nov. 12).

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at the site of the plant, 18250 Durrance Road, at 11 a.m.  County Commissioner Andy Coy will serve as master of ceremonies.

Construction will cost $24 million and culminates years of planning, design, site selection and permitting.  The plant will increase the county's drinking water supply - to meet growing demand - and decrease reliance on water from the Caloosahatchee River.  The construction manager is Kellogg Brown and Root Inc.

The plant's initial treatment capacity will be 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 plant should be operational by August 2005.

The North Fort Myers area currently is served by the Olga Water Treatment Plant, which treats water from the Caloosahatchee River.  The source water for the new plant will be supplied by eight new wells on the plant site and will draw water from the Lower Hawthorne Floridan aquifer, which is of a brackish nature.  This will provide for an alternative water supply which is consistent with the Lower West Coast Water Supply Plan, which states the following: "Local water users should consider using the Floridan Aquifer System to reduce demands on fresh water sources in the Lower West Coast Planning Area."  This project also includes the construction of a deep injection well for the brine disposal and the construction of a 30-inch water transmission line.

There are three major benefits that this plant will bring to Lee County and the environment: 1) satisfying the need for future potable water demand created by continual residential and commercial growth, 2) diversifying the use of source waters and reducing the withdraw of water from our fresh water aquifers, which in turn, 3) will reduce the risk of saltwater intrusion into the existing fresh water aquifers.

Saltwater intrusion into the river due to a 2001 drought increased the levels of sodium and chloride in the drinking water treated by the Olga Plant and required the county to buy up to 500,000 gallons of water a day from Cape Coral's Utility System to correct the problem.

Lee County's Division of Utilities is responsible for providing more than 100,000 Lee County residents potable water and wastewater services to certain areas of unincorporated Lee County.  Since its establishment in 1968, Lee County Utilities has grown from a small community water utility to a countywide water and wastewater utility with seven drinking water treatment plants and eight wastewater treatment plants.  The Utilities Division has an annual operating budget of about $38 million.