County OKs Caloosahatchee Creek filter marsh
The water that runs down the Caloosahatchee River is about to get just a wee bit cleaner.
The Lee County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday approved $1.5 million in grant funds to construct the Palm Creek Filter Marsh at the Caloosahatchee Creeks Preserve East, located south of Bayshore Road and east of interstate 75.
The BOCC approved an interlocal agreement with the South Florida Water Management District to accept grant funding to construct the project.
The SFWMD received the funding from The Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
County Commissioner Brian Hamman said the grant continues the county’s commitment to clean up the water in the Caloosahatchee.
“Anything we can do to remove nutrients that act as fertilizer for algae blooms, we want to take those steps,” Hamman said. “We committed to that years ago and we want to continue that commitment.”
The goal of the project is to improve the water quality for the Caloosahatchee River. The project will assist in meeting the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary Basin Management Action Plan Total Maximum Daily Load targets for total nitrogen.
The river has a Total Maximum Daily Load for Total Nitrogen and is subject to a state of Florida Basin Management Action Plan.
The project will include a series of ponds and a wetland network to assist with the treatment of surface water for nutrient removal and other water-quality improvements.
Phil Gillogly, Lee County Natural Resources, explained a weir will be placed in Palm Creek to divert water into the wetland system. The water will flow through the system and discharge into the old wetland system that was Palm Creek and ultimately into the river.
Wetland plants remove nutrients from the water as they grow. The plants will then be harvested to allow new plant growth and continued nutrient removal.
The project also will provide aquifer recharge and enhanced habitat for native wetland-dependent wildlife species, officials said.
The project is expected to reduce nitrogen by 4,574 pounds per year and almost 600 pounds of phosphorus.
Hamman said the project will have a positive impact on human-created pollution of the water from use of fertilizer and other activities.
“We’ve known for years that as well as discharges from Lake Okeechobee we have a lot of pollution that comes from our own basin. We want to make sure the water that’s discharged from us is as clean as possible,” Hamman said.
Betsy Clayton, communications director for Lee County Government, said the project will begin in Spring 2026 and be completed by Summer 2027.
The BOCC also approved a second water quality project, a $2.5 million grant for a creek diversion system and shallow open-water wetland treatment area at the Bob Janes preserve in Alva.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com