City of Fort Myers Ford Street Preserve

Background

The City of Fort Myers, which is located on the southwest coast of Florida, has a population of approximately 70,000 with over 80% of the land area contained within the Caloosahatchee River Watershed. The City enacted a stormwater utility in March, 2009, to fund the Stormwater Program, with 16 full time positions within three Divisions: Engineering, Utility Billing and Operations.

The City’s Stormwater Program manages over 40 miles of canals, which includes Billy Creek, a 5.03 mile long natural creek that drains 5,311 acres, and is one of the largest watersheds within the City. Billy Creek is listed as impaired by FDEP for nutrients, dissolved oxygen, and fecal coliform bacteria. Over 82% of the land contained within the watershed is classified as urban development.

Project Details

The construction phase of the Ford Street Preserve project was substantially completed at the end of October 2015. The project was partially funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund through the U.S. Department of Interior, the National Park Service and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Ford Street Preserve provides a constructed wetland treatment system that removes pollutants from the Ford Street Canal, a waterbody that drains a highly urbanized watershed that is 811 acres in size. The Ford Street Canal previously discharged to Billy Creek with no treatment. This project provides a Best Management Practice (BMP) for this watershed by intercepting all seasonal runoff from the canal and diverting it to a constructed wetland system. The wetland treatment system includes a structure across Ford Street Canal to divert flows into the wetland treatment system which includes a settling pond, wetlands, and construction of a sheet pile weir wall and boardwalk. The settling pond removes large particles and urban debris and achieves a reduction of total suspended solids and nutrients. The stormwater is then directed to the wetland treatment cells where aquatic plants are utilized to further reduce nutrients. Additional residence time results in the further reduction of total suspended solids and metals. The stormwater is discharged through a weir that controls the water elevation in the wetlands adjacent to Billy Creek.

The removal efficiency of the system was estimated prior to construction using the ''Pollutant Removal Efficiencies for Typical Stormwater Management Systems in Florida" by Harvey H. Harper, PhD, P.E. (NOTE: Pollutant loadings for Ford Street Canal watershed are based on the modeled results from SWMM as stated in the "City of Fort Myers Stormwater Master Plan Update" by Environmental Consulting Technology, January 2008.) Based on the calculations the project is estimated to reduce the TSS by 74%, Total Phosphorus reductions of 85% and Total Nitrogen reductions of 72%. The system will undergo monitoring during 2016/2017 to evaluate the actual reductions provided by the system.

The project also serves as an educational opportunity for the public. The boardwalk on the north and east sides of the preserve provide access for the public. Signs are located along the boardwalk to describe the treatment process and the plants associated with the preserve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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