What is in Fort Myers tap water?

Ask three neighbors in Fort Myers where their water comes from and you may get three answers, and all of them may be right. The city has its own utility. Most of the unincorporated area around it is served by Lee County Utilities, which runs several plants using more than one treatment method. A few pockets east of town are still on private wells. Which one you have decides what the water is like and what, if anything, is worth doing about it.

Which utility serves your house

The City of Fort Myers utility serves homes inside the city limits, roughly the older core along the river, downtown, and the neighborhoods annexed around it. Lee County Utilities serves most of the rest: south Fort Myers, San Carlos Park, Iona, and North Fort Myers, among others. The easiest way to know is the name on your water bill. If there is no water bill, you are on a well, and the rest of this guide does not apply; the well water guides do.

Where the water comes from and how it is treated

Both utilities draw mainly from underground aquifers. In its recent reports the City of Fort Myers describes treating deep, brackish aquifer water with reverse osmosis, which pushes the water through membranes that remove most of the dissolved minerals and salts. Lee County Utilities operates several plants across the county and, in its reports, describes a mix of methods: reverse osmosis at some plants, lime softening at others, and at least one plant treating river water from the Caloosahatchee. Water from different plants can be blended in the distribution system, so what reaches a given street depends on where it sits.

The practical difference is hardness. Reverse osmosis water leaves the plant quite soft, and utilities typically add some minerals back so it is not corrosive to pipes. Lime softened water is moderately hard. Blended water lands in between.

The disinfectant and hardness

Both utilities report using chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, as the disinfectant that keeps water safe through the distribution system. Chloramine is more stable than free chlorine, which is good for the pipes and less good for the shower: it does not gas off if water sits, it needs a specific catalytic carbon to remove, and it matters if you keep fish or are on dialysis.

Hardness varies with the plant, as above. Both utilities measure it and will tell you the current figure if it is not in the report. Both are worth checking, because the city’s reverse osmosis water and the county’s lime softened water call for different equipment.

What you notice at home

• A pool smell at the tap and in the shower, stronger in some months than others.
• Dry skin and flat hair, especially for people who moved here from softer water.
• Spots on glassware and a white crust on faucets and showerheads, more on lime softened water than on reverse osmosis water.
• Sediment and noise in the water heater over the years, and a shorter life for it.
• Rubber seals in faucets, toilet fill valves, and appliances wearing out sooner, which is partly the chloramine.
• Occasional discolored water for a day after a main break or hydrant flushing.

None of that is a safety problem. All of it is a comfort and wear problem, and that is what home treatment addresses.

What treatment usually helps

For most Fort Myers homes on either utility, the first piece is a whole-home catalytic carbon filter, which removes chloramine and the taste, smell, and dryness that come with it. If your water is on the harder side, add scale protection: a salt-free conditioner, which keeps minerals from sticking without salt or a drain, or a softener for the softest feel. On reverse osmosis city water, the conditioner may be unnecessary; a hardness test at the tap tells you. A small reverse osmosis unit under the kitchen sink is the usual addition for drinking and cooking water.

Have the water tested for hardness and disinfectant before you buy anything. The utility’s annual report and a strip test at the tap take ten minutes and prevent buying a softener for water that does not need one.

Where DIY ends

Reading the report, testing hardness, and changing cartridges are homeowner tasks. Whole-home equipment ties into the main line where water enters the house, needs a bypass, and in many cases a drain and an outlet. That is licensed, permitted plumbing work in Florida, and a system plumbed backwards or without a bypass is a common service call.

If you would like to know what your water is doing in your house, tell us your utility and what bothers you about the water, and we will tell you what fits and what you can skip.