FORT MYERS, Fla. — Not many people want to go swimming if they don’t trust the water.
Tuesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis awarded Fort Myers and other local governments $25 million to clean up the Caloosahatchee Watershed.
Experts tell Fox 4 community corespondent Stephen Pimpo that keeping the water clean is key to keeping tourist coming to Southwest Florida:
Experts like Matt DePaolis of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation said it is crucial to clean nitrogen and phosphorus out of the Caloosahatchee.
“The more nutrient pollution we can get out of the watershed, the less likely we’re going to be seeing harmful algal blooms cropping up, red tide being fed and exacerbated, blue green algae being transported, macro algae showing up on our beaches,” DePaolis said.
And if it’s not safe for sea life, people won’t want to be around it either, which is devastating for Southwest Florida’s tourism-based economy.
“Florida’s waterways are a vital part of our environment, economy, and way of life, and protecting these resources continues to be a top priority,” said Governor DeSantis.
The City of Fort Myers is getting $13,516,765 for the Expansion of Reclaimed Water Treatment at Central Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facilities. The Glades County Board of County Commissioners is getting $5,278,235 for phase three of its Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion Project. Lee County Utilities is getting $4,500,000 for the Billy Creek and Orange River Septic-to-Sewer Conversion Project. And the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District is getting $1,705,000 for phase three of its ROBUST Construction Project.
“When we’re talking about septic to sewer conversions, when we’re talking about turning reclaimed water facilities into advanced waste water treatment, that’s going to do wonders for taking those nutrients out of the watershed,” said DePaolis.
David Lindsay, district manager of the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services, said this money will go to keeping water in a flood plane of Bedman Creek to release later in the year.
“That will help the aqua culture in the creek because it would end up dying in between dry periods,” he said.
According to the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, just one algal bloom could cause Collier, Lee and Charlotte counties over $5 billion in lost economic output.
“It makes people maybe think twice about coming to our area so we’ve all got this responsibility to do our part,” said Lindsay.
