Lee County hires Kimley-Horn for water project

The Lee Board of County Commissioners voted to allocate funding for the design of a project that will reduce the levels of nitrogen and phosphorous from the Powell Creek watershed in North Fort Myers. Powell Creek is a tributary of the Caloosahatchee River.

The Caloosahatchee estuary has a Total Maximum Daily Load designation for Total Nitrogen and an adopted State of Florida Basin Management Action Plan to lower this pollutant. Commissioners spend millions of dollars annually on projects to reduce pollutants in the estuary.

Kimley-Horn and Associates, a national engineering firm with offices in Lee County, will design at least two options for a project at the downstream end of the Powell Creek bypass canal to improve water quality before it is discharged into the Caloosahatchee River. The design option selected will be submitted through the county’s five-year Capital Improvement Program budget process for review and consideration. Total cost of the project will be determined after the design is completed; Tuesday’s action authorizes spending up to $198,000 for the design phase.