The City of Fort Myers has been recognized as a winner in the Florida League of Cities’ 9th Annual Florida Municipal Achievement awards, as the co-winner of the League’s Environmental Stewardship Award for the Downtown Basin. The award recognized the City’s efforts for improvement to environmental water quality.

Once a waterfront parking area, this 1.5-acre wet detention area has now become an appealing focal point in downtown Fort Myers. The basin was designed to combine a unique mix of waterfront pathways, aesthetically appealing architecture, and landscaping, while inconspicuously collecting and treating stormwater from the City’s historic downtown area before discharging to the impaired Caloosahatchee River.

Our team monitored the water quality for the first year following construction and received positive results. The report we submitted to the FDEP showed the basin was working as designed, reducing the nutrient loads before discharging into the river. As the civil engineer responsible for the design and permitting of the basin, it’s rewarding to see this project being recognized for what it was designed to do.

For more information, contact Andy Tilton, P.E. at 239.334.0046 or [email protected].