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Fort Myers Has a Poop Problem. Growth Is a central issue.
There is a phrase no one wants associated with their waterways: “poop.”
But for Fort Myers, fecal contamination in local waterways is a serious public-health and infrastructure issue. The uncomfortable question is not simply where the contamination comes from. It is whether the infrastructure is keeping pace with the growth happening around it.
In 2020, a malfunctioning lift station released approximately 183,000 gallons of raw sewage into Manuel’s Branch, triggering a Florida Department of Environmental Protection consent order over water-quality violations and potential health risks. (Gulf Coast News Now) The problems have not stopped since.
Some progress has been made, but environmental advocates continue to raise concerns about possible human sources of fecal contamination in local waterways. (Calusa Waterkeeper) This include raw sewage level contamination in Manual’s Branch running right along the ball fields at Fort Myers High School.
This is where the conversation about growth becomes important.
Fort Myers is not standing still. New housing, commercial development, annexations and increasing population all create additional demands on water, sewer, roads and stormwater systems in the city and the surrounding areas. A wastewater engineering study commissioned for the city specifically examined how increased development and density would affect wastewater flows and the sewer mains and lift stations needed to accommodate that growth. (DrMP) Long story short, we are not keeping up and it’s putting poop in our water, threatening our drinking water, and stressing our entire water management system.
Fort Myers has budgeted hundreds of millions of dollars over five years for utility projects, including lift-station rehabilitation, sanitary-sewer evaluation and repairs, service-line replacement, wastewater treatment improvements and new sewer construction. (OpenGov) The progress on those projects is another question.
Investment is necessary. But it raises an equally important question: Are we building infrastructure first, or approving growth and trying to catch up afterward?
There is a fundamental difference between investing in infrastructure to accommodate responsible growth and allowing development to outrun the systems residents already depend upon. Lowering impact fees, subsidies, and favorable treatment for developers over the years have given them a pass when it comes to doing their fair share in paying for infrastructure expansion to support the growth.
Nearly every elected official in Southwest Florida reports sizeable contributions from developers and their PACs. Politicians who are heavily supported by developers find it far too easy to shift the burden for growth on the public.
Fort Myers also faces the added complication of stormwater. Impervious surfaces increase runoff and can carry pollutants into waterways, while aging drainage infrastructure requires ongoing maintenance and replacement (City of Fort Myers) that is not routinely happening.
The solution is not to oppose every new home or business. Nor is it reasonable to pretend that growth has no infrastructure costs.
The solution is to make infrastructure capacity a central part of development decisions. The only way to put the people’s well being front and center is to make sure that your elected official isn’t doing the bidding of developers.
Before approving more density, annexations or major developments, residents deserve clear answers: Does the sewer system have sufficient capacity? Are lift stations adequate? Who pays for needed upgrades? Are impact fees sufficient? What happens when the next hurricane floods the system?
This is why we need to keep development decisions local, not pre-empt them from Tallahassee.
This is why we need leaders who are committed to the people, not their political donors.
This is why we need to Take Back Tallahassee for the people.
Nobody wants to swim in the consequences of an area that built faster than it maintained the pipes.
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