About the Program

History of Cape Coral Utilities

Cape Coral is a pre-platted community with approximately 400 miles of dredged canals. At 115 square miles, Cape Coral is the 3rd largest City in the State of Florida by area (behind Jacksonville and Tampa) and the 12th most populated.

Cape Coral was built about 50 years ago by two land speculators who believed that the property's location on the Gulf Coast provided abundant sunshine and almost endless opportunities for waterfront living. The Rosen brothers purchased the property, platted the community and began a massive marketing campaign that resulted in the sale of nearly all of the 350,000 residential building sites, the majority to people who lived in other states.

It’s worth noting that the City was pre-platted into building parcels, each lot is typically 40ft x 120ft and a minimum of two lots are required to make a buildable parcel which is typically a quarter of an acre.

Cape Coral is one of the fastest growing population areas in Florida. CC has presently over 165,000 residents and is forecast to double this population within the next 30 years. At full build out, the population is estimated to be over 400,000 which would make it one of the most populous cities in Florida.

The population growth rate in Cape Coral has been significant over the past 7 years. The City’s 1999 Master Plan predicted the population of 150,000 people would be achieved in 2015. This population was actually achieved by 2005. This rate of increase led to an acceleration of the utility extension planning by the City.

There have been some extensive studies conducted of the utility extension to suit the population growth in Cape Coral. The history of the utility extension within the City can be summarized as follows: -

  • Initial Density Agreements
  • Water Quality Problems in Late 1980’s
  • ‘Water Independence for Cape Coral’ (WICC) Master Plan of January 1988
  • ‘Initial’ utility extension program (UEP) of early 1990’s
  • Master Plan Update of 1998
  • Utility Extension Program 1999-2005
  • Utility and Facility Extension Program 2005 to Date
  • Greeley and Hansen Study of Wastewater Collection Alternatives

Initial Density Agreements
By State Law, pre-platted communities prior to 1972 did not need to have the otherwise required ½-acre of land area for septic tank drainage. The City of Cape Coral was pre-platted in 1950’s. The original density agreements agreed with the Health Department depended on the City developing a Master Plan to provide treatment to densely populated areas. The Health Department identified that if an area had a housing density greater than 50%, there was less than an average of ½ acre for land area treatment and a wastewater treatment solution had to be identified.

Ground water wells and septic tanks provided utility service to the developing areas of the Cape from inception in 1950’s. However, as the population became more dense in certain areas the Health Department became increasingly concerned that there was not the required ½ acre of drainage area per household for sewage treatment and that there too many wells or “straws” into the mid-Hawthorne aquifer which stressed the valuable water commodity. Wells in the Cape were running dry during the dry season in high density areas due to a high demand. When wells go dry there is a high risk of salt water intrusion into the aquifer.

The Health Department required the City to implement a centralized potable water system in areas where the density was 30% or greater and a centralized wastewater system where the density was 50% or greater. This period of growth led to the utility development of the Southeast section of Cape Coral and the establishment of the Everest Wastewater Treatment Plant, which actually started as a Developer-owned treatment plant.

Water Quality Problems in Late 1980’s
In the 1980’s, thirty years after the development of Cape Coral, the Department of Environmental Protection required the City to take action following water quality issues at Lake Kennedy. This incident, combined with the density agreements established with the local Regulators, led the City to implement a major study into expansion of water and wastewater utilities.

Water Independence for Cape Coral (WICC) Master Plan 1988
Boyle Engineering published a master plan in 1988 called the Water Independence for Cape Coral to study the utility growth challenges created by the expanding population. This study outlined the first sequenced utility expansion to meet the growth demands and included a dual water system to limit potable water to indoor uses to satisfy the water-use demands of a rapidly growing population.

Initial Utility Extension Program of 1990’s
The City engaged a construction manager to assist in a traditional design-bid-build approach. The City bid out three major contracts encompassing approximately 14,000 residents and directly contracted all contracts. The City maintained the management of the utility contracts in-house with the assistance of an external engineering consultant.

The initial wastewater collection system adopted was a pressurized effluent pumping system or ‘PEP’ system. This was abandoned following resident complaints in favor of gravity sewer.

The City learnt many lessons from the implementation of this major utility project that led to significant changes to the next utility extension project.

Utility Master Plan Update of 1999
Dames and Moore implemented a Utility Master Plan Update in 1999 to further review the population growth requirements for utility extension that led to the utility extension program of 1999 to 2005. This plan identified the utility extension that was required to meet population density requirements without requiring further wastewater or water treatment plant expansion.

Utility Extension Program of 2000-2005
The current UEP team has installed services to over 15,000 properties over the past 6 years and will complete a further 7,000 service connections for SW4 and SW5 in 2007 and 2008.

In comparison to the previous utility extension program, a major contracting amendment was made away from Design-Bid Build to CM-at-Risk. This places all of the risk for the implementation of the design and construction of the utilities to the Construction Manager, leaving the City Staff to concentrate on planning, permitting, assessment methodology.

Utility and Facility Extension Program 2005 to Date
In 2004 the City advertised for a Program Manager at Risk contract to continue with the utility extension program and design/build the necessary process plant expansions. MWH was successful in this selection and was appointed the Program Manager.

One of the first tasks as Program Manager was for MWH to expand the Master Plan Update to meet the expanding population growth demands. This has been completed with the Master Plan approved by the City.

The City Council approved the five year plan for utility extension which is to be amended and reviewed annually.

Greeley and Hansen Study of Wastewater Collection Alternatives
City Council approved the independent study of alternatives to wastewater collection. On June 11, 2007, Greeley and Hanson presented their study results for Council. Their study included:

  • Conventional Gravity
  • Vacuum
  • Small Diameter
  • Low Pressure
  • Single on Site Septic