The ribbon will be cut this morning on a new water treatment plant in North Fort Myers. It’s Lee County Utilities’ first venture into reverse osmosis technology. The city of Cape Coral has used reverse osmosis, or r/o, to make brackish groundwater suitable for consumption for well over a decade. Now the county has followed suit. Patty DiPiero is a spokeswoman for Lee County Utilities.

“We knew that the population was growing here in Southwest Florida and we knew it was becoming a stress on our freshwater aquifers, so when we did this we considered an alternative water source for the project to meet those demands.”

The 32-million-dollar plant has actually been operating for a month – serving the water needs of about 42 thousand people. R/O costs more than traditional water treatment. But so far, rates have not gone up. Another R/O plant is under construction in South Lee County.
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Water is being pumped to Lee County Utility Customers in North Fort Myers from a new treatment plant. The facility uses reverse osmosis, or R-O, to make slightly-brackish groundwater fit for consumption. Patty DiPiero of Lee County Utilities says...so far, so good.

“We have some experienced some customers saying they did notice a change in the water quality they’re enjoying the water quality and seen some changes in water pressure coming out of the pipes. So far all the feedback has been positive.”

The county is using R-O because fresh groundwater reserves are shrinking. The plant includes two, 2-point-5 million gallon storage tanks and provides water to approximately 42 thousand people. The official ribbon cutting is today at 11:00.