DEP Helps Fund Lehigh Acres' Caloosahatchee River & Estuary Storage & Treatment Project, Phase II

Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District's Caloosahatchee River & Estuary Storage & Treatment Project, Phase II Groundbreaking:

DEP's Division of Water Restoration Assistance is providing $2 million ($1 million from a state water quality assistance grant and $1 million from a total maximum daily load grant) for the Caloosahatchee River & Estuary Storage & Treatment Project, Phase II (CREST) for a filter marsh to treat water (remove total nitrogen and total phosphorous) from the Hendry Canal in Lehigh Acres before it’s transported to the Caloosahatchee. 

Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District (LA-MSID) completed a study in 2007 which projected that the stormwater system's storage capacity is deficient of about 15,000 acre-feet for the area's full build-out and 100-year storm event scenarios. In May 2018, the LA-MSID purchased a 105-acre parcel for the CREST project to help solve storage capacity issues and provide additional nutrient removal of LA-MSID waters before discharging to the Caloosahatchee River. The storage and water quality project components serve the region, the Caloosahatchee Estuary, and residents and businesses in Lee County. The flood protection and ground water recharge components of this project will directly serve people that live in Lehigh Acres.

The CREST project site was previously utilized for agricultural production purposes, and there is an existing wetland on the southwestern portion of the site that will not be disturbed. LA-MSID has completed Phase 1 of the CREST project, which included relocating of weir S-H-2 and construction of the Dog to Hendry Canal conveyance channel to allow for year-round gravity flow through the treatment train. Phase III of the CREST project will utilize the rest of the 104.5-acre parcel for storage to hold water before it can be treated and transported into the Caloosahatchee River.