Two Cities, One Vision: A Successful Beneficial Reuse Project

A record-setting reclaimed water main was successfully constructed across the 7,600-ft-wide Caloosahatchee River in an innovative partnership between the City of Cape Coral and the City of Fort Myers starting in 2018. This mutually beneficial project allows the City of Fort Myers to reduce discharges and nutrient loading to the Caloosahatchee River by providing 12 million gallons per day (mgd) of reclaimed water to the City of Cape Coral for irrigation and fire protection. The project was brought online in February 2024, making the 7,630-ft reclaimed water transmission main the longest subaqueous horizontal directional drilling project using FPVC pipe in the world. Stantec was involved in the design and construction services of (1) the 7,630-ft main across the river, (2) the 7,600-ft main from the River to the City of Cape Coral's Everest Water Reclamation Facility (EWRF), and (3) a reclaimed water distribution manifold at the EWRF. Since coming online, over 95% of the reclaimed water transmitted from the City of Fort Myers has been beneficially reused in the City of Cape Coral's reclaimed water distribution system.