Fort Myers utilities director outlines $75 million plant expansion to bolster supply

Fort Myers Director of Public Utilities Jason Shondra told the Environmental Advisory Board the utility is building a major treatment-plant expansion it estimates at $75,000,000 that will add new reverse-osmosis 'skids' and increase operational flexibility.

Shondra said the current plant rating figures were described multiple ways in the presentation: he cited a current plant rating in the low‑teens of millions of gallons per day and said the expansion will add 9,000,000 gallons per day of skid capacity; he also said the city expects permanent capacity to be 15,000,000 gallons per day and estimates the project online by mid‑2028. He cautioned that transcript figures as presented to the board were not internally reconciled during the meeting and provided a planning-range context rather than a final accounting.

The director described the skids as independently operable units that can run at variable efficiencies and be staged as needed when raw-water quality declines. He said the expansion was driven by population projections and by a design assumption of progressively lower raw-water quality from the brackish aquifer.

Shondra also described a parallel capital program to extend the life of existing treatment assets, noting the utility has budgeted $1,000,000 a year to make improvements while delaying full replacement until necessary. "We have budgeted in our capital program $1,000,000 a year to make those adjustments," he said.

The presentation emphasized minimizing ratepayer impact: Shondra noted most well-field expansion work is funded by grants or loans with principal forgiveness and said those grant-funded wells carry no direct capital cost to ratepayers. He urged the board that distribution-system upgrades, not just plant additions, will be central in coming years because much of the city's piping dates to the early 20th century.

Looking ahead, Shondra said the city intends to keep building raw-water buffer capacity and to sequence investments so customers do not face a large sudden rate shock. He offered to return with updates as the expansion progresses.