Cleaner canals for Marco Island: Is advanced wastewater treatment the answer?

Marco Island will look into what it would cost to update the city's wastewater treatment plant to Advanced Wastewater Treatment, or AWT.

What can it hurt to find out? Marco Island City Council members decided.

AWT, which is used to remove a variety of contaminants from wastewater, such as heavy metals, oil and grease, pathogens, and suspended solids, along with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, is one of several ideas that city officials are considering to improve the city's waterways.

Councilwoman Tamara Goehler, along with several residents, are pushing for the city to convert Marco Island's wastewater treatment plant to AWT.

Jeff Poteet, the city's water and sewer utilities general manager, says the water and sewer plant is state of the art and not the issue. He has said the city's money would be better spent replacing the septic systems of Goodland and