Completion of new water storage project to help water quality in Caloosahatchee

Nearly 10,000 Olympic swimming pools worth of water annually will be stored and treated in Alva. That will keep the water from running off the land and into the Caloosahatchee.

“The Caloosahatchee Estuary is kind of the heartbeat of Lee County,” said Drew Bartlett, from the South Florida Water Management District.

The project’s called the Aljo Four Corners Rapid Infiltration Project. It means more storage west of Lake Okeechobee.

“Everything that runs off of the land ultimately runs into the natural waterways,” said Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman. “And this gives the water a chance to kind of go through some vegetation and get a lot of those nutrients and fertilizers pulled out of it.”