CAPE CORAL, Fla. — The river that separates Southwest Florida’s two largest cities will now connect them in a way unlike any other place in the country.
Thursday, city leaders in Cape Coral broke ground on the Caloosahatchee Connect project.
The Caloosahatchee Connect allows the City of Cape Coral to purchase millions of gallons of reclaimed water from Fort Myers instead of discharging it into the Caloosahatchee River.
Once finished, project will pump 1.2 billion gallons of reclaimed water from Fort Myers to Cape Coral every year underneath the river.
“I have never seen a reclaimed water interconnect like this, going under a river. To my knowledge,” said Jeff Pearson, Utilities Director for the City of Cape Coral.
The 7,400 feet of piping will be the largest horizontal drilling project in the world, according to city officials.
The water will do several things in Cape Coral, including help keep canal levels up during the dry season. It can be used for irrigation, to allow residents to water their yards, gardens, flower beds and others during dry periods.
The other use is for the Cape Coral Fire Department to help with water pressure and can be used to put out fires.
Work began on Thursday in Horton Park where the pipeline will emerge in Cape Coral after being connected to the reclaimed water main in Fort Myers.
“You’ve got a city over there (Fort Myers) that’s got too much water, it’s wastewater they’re trying to get rid of it. They’re pumping into the river, the river is dirty, we don’t want the water to be dirty. We’ve got a city right here that really needs that water,” said Chauncey Goss, Board Chairman of the South Florida Water Management District.
The city hopes to finish the project and start pumping water by October.
