FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Rick Diaz, Lee County Utilities, (941) 479-8181, or
                Jim Lavender, Lee County Public Works, 479-8301

FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 13, 2001) – Lee County is in the beginning stages of planning and designing a water treatment plant in the North Lee County area that will increase the county’s drinking water supply and decrease reliance on water from the Caloosahatchee River.

The proposed North Lee County Water Treatment Plant would be located on property adjacent to Durrance Road in North Fort Myers. The exact location has not been determined, however the Board of Lee County Commissioners approved a "Resolution of Necessity" today that gives the county condemnation power, if necessary, to acquire a parcel for the project.

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 $25-million plant isn’t expected to come on line before 2003 and still is in the pre-design and permitting stages.

The North Fort Myers area currently is served by the Olga Water Treatment Plant, which treats water from the Caloosahatchee River. However, saltwater intrusion into the river due to the drought has increased the levels of sodium and chloride in the drinking water treated by the plant. Currently, the county is buying up to 500,000 gallons of water a day from Cape Coral’s Utility System to correct the problem. The North Lee County Water Treatment Plant should decrease the county’s reliance on treated water from the Olga Plant, especially during drought conditions, as well as serve the growing population north of the Caloosahatchee River.

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.