City of Ft. Myers switching to Lee County water supply, which has different disinfection process

FORT MYERS – The City of Fort Myers has finalized a water purchase agreement with Lee County, enabling the City to acquire up to 1.5 million gallons per day from the county for no more than 150 days. This measure will help alleviate water demands while the City continues to grow its water infrastructure through existing and upcoming projects.

The process of connecting to the Lee County water source will require multiple phases, as the municipalities do not currently utilize the same disinfectant. Lee County Utilities uses chloramines (which is a longer lasting disinfectant) for disinfection of drinking water, while the City of Fort Myers uses free chlorine (which is a stronger disinfectant). Both disinfectants are effective and adequate; however, should not be utilized at the same time. Therefore, it will be necessary to isolate and flush the existing system in order to receive the purchased water.

The first two phases of this change are expected to begin on January 31st, 2022; completion will take approximately 4 days.

For more information about the transition and what customers should expect, please review the full City of Fort Myers news release (link below).