Fort Myers leaders combat low water pressure with 11 new wells

For years, WINK News has reported on the struggle neighbors living in Fort Myers have dealt with when it comes to low water pressure.

On Monday afternoon, WINK News learned why the city limited the amount of water coming out of your faucet.

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The issue dates back to the early 2000’s. With the population of Fort Myers increasing and the economy declining, the decision was made by city leaders back then to keep rates low at the expense of infrastructure upgrades.

“We had the downturn of the economy in 2008-2009. People were losing their homes,” said Jason Sciandra, Assistant Director of the Public Utilities Department for Fort Myers. “We had not reinvested in our water utility. We had made some conscious decisions very early on in the downturn economy of like, ‘no, we’re going to hold off on doing additional investments’ because we need to keep costs affordable so people can continue to have water and continue to be able to pay for their homes and things like that.”

What appeared to be a drop-in-the-bucket decision made by previous Fort Myers city leaders with good intentions led to a wave of nearly catastrophic consequences for over a decade.

“That delay, you know, to meet that increase in demand, that delay meant that we were lowering pressure,” said Sciandra. “So basically, you turn on your faucet and you wouldn’t get as much water out. It was a way to control how much water was being sent out. So over time, that pressure dropped in. I think we were as low as 47 psi at one point right after Hurricane Ian.”

Consequences trickled down to neighborhoods, schools and hospitals.

It was that realization that led the city to take action.

“More often than not, like this morning, I couldn’t shower,” said Mike Hodgins, a Pelican Preserve resident.

“I’m sorry, we are getting porta potties at our schools for our kids in some cases, when there’s low water pressure and we have to shut down bathrooms, we are getting those out there so they still do have that access,” said Frederick Ross, Executive Director Operations for the Lee County School District.

“In the wake of Hurricane Ian, we were, I think, five hours away from Lee Memorial having to shut down operations because the water pressure,” said Sciandra. “The water available to them wasn’t significant enough, it wasn’t enough to keep operations going.”

From 2022 to the start of 2025, the city added 11 new wells moving the total number from 16 to 27.

During the Fort Myers City Council meeting on Monday, The utilities department gave an update on the water supply, and the 11 new wells added.

The city’s most recent capital improvements budget over the next 10 years sits at $950 million.