Lee County Utilities
Overview
Lee County Utilities is a public drinking-water system serving about 282,556 people in Lee County, Florida.
Arsenic was detected in this system’s water. EPA states its health effects: skin damage; circulatory problems; may increase the risk of certain cancers.
HAA5 (Haloacetic Acids) was detected in this system’s water. EPA states its health effects: may increase the risk of cancer.
TTHM (Total Trihalomethanes) was detected in this system’s water. EPA states its health effects: may increase the risk of cancer; liver, kidney, or central nervous system effects.
EPA’s health goal for Arsenic is zero. There is no amount of it it considers safe to drink.
PFOS, PFOA, and PFBA were detected, forever chemicals that do not break down in the body or in the environment. EPA states the health effects: effects on cholesterol, the liver, the immune system, and thyroid; may increase the risk of certain cancers.
When EPA last ran its national survey here it found HAA6Br, HAA9, Chlorate, Strontium, and 4 more. Nobody has been required to look for any of them since.
It serves Fort Myers, Alva, Bonita Springs, Buckingham, Cape Coral, Cypress Lake, and 21 other communities.
It uses surface water as its source, disinfected with chlorine/chloramines.
Contaminants Detected
The state's chemical file reports this value, but EPA's violation record shows no exceedance was ever issued for this contaminant at this system, and no exceedance anywhere in Florida has come close to this level. It is shown as reported and is not counted as an exceedance.
Not detected, or not looked for 87
PFAS · EPA UCMR5 monitoring
These were genuinely sampled, because EPA required it. Of 29 PFAS “forever chemicals” tested under the UCMR5 program, 7 were detected (shown above) and 22 were not:
Regulated contaminants · no result on record
Federally regulated contaminants with no reading on record for this system. A missing reading can mean the sample came back clean, or that nobody was required to take one. The published data does not say which, and smaller systems monitor many of these only once every few years:
What a national survey found, years ago
A utility only reports contaminants that have a federal limit. EPA runs a separate national survey to look for the ones that do not, sampling each system a handful of times and then moving on. These are Lee County Utilities’s results from those rounds. They are the only public measurements of these substances for this system, and they are between five and twelve years old.
Most of the substances above still have no federal limit, so there is no legal line to compare them against and we do not invent one. Where a health goal is shown it is California’s published figure, the level its health agency considers to carry no significant risk over a lifetime. Where it names EPA the figure is EPA’s own. Where it says our benchmark instead, no government body has published anything at all for that substance, and the figure is this site’s, built on the nearest official source and cited on that contaminant’s own page. It is marked so the difference is never hidden. The reading is what was measured, on the date it was measured. Whether anything has changed since is not knowable from public data, because nobody has been required to look.
What was found in the pipes
Lee County Utilities took 1,963 bacteria samples from its distribution system in 2023. Twelve came back positive.
| Date sampled | Found |
|---|---|
| April 4, 2023 | total coliform |
| June 22, 2023 | total coliform |
| July 10, 2023 | total coliform |
| August 10, 2023 | total coliform |
| August 16, 2023 | total coliform |
| August 21, 2023 | total coliform |
| August 21, 2023 | total coliform |
| September 12, 2023 | total coliform |
| September 18, 2023 | total coliform |
| October 12, 2023 | total coliform |
| November 6, 2023 | total coliform |
| December 18, 2023 | total coliform |
From FDEP’s microbiological report, 2023. These are samples taken from the distribution system, the water in the pipes on the way to you, and not untreated source water. A positive sample is normally followed by repeat samples, and where those come back clean no violation is recorded, which is why findings like these do not appear in a compliance history.
How this system treats the water
FDEP records 8 treatment plants for this system, and they are not equipped the same. Only disinfection and particle removal happen at all 8, and not always by the same method. A step recorded at some plants treats some of what this system produces, not all of it.
From FDEP’s treatment facility report, 2023. It lists what each plant is equipped to do, which is not the same as what any single process removes on a given day, and treatment happens before the water reaches your service line or your own plumbing. FDEP counts plants separately even where they stand on one site and run at the same time, and their output mixes in the distribution system. A count here says how many of this system’s plants include a step, not which homes receive it.
What happened when this system broke the rules
Measurements are only half the record. These are Lee County Utilities’s violations of the drinking-water rules as recorded by EPA, 2021, and what followed them.
The longest single violation ran 29 days before the system was recorded back in compliance.
A system in violation keeps operating, because cutting off a community’s water is not a remedy anyone wants. That is the point worth understanding: the enforcement record and the water are two different things, and only one of them appears in the annual report you are mailed. What that looks like statewide →
The Solution
Get your water tested
We measure what is actually coming out of your taps - hardness, iron, pH, TDS, PFAS, and whatever your own plumbing adds - the things a utility report can never show.
See your real results
We walk you through exactly what is there and what it affects: your skin, your pipes, your appliances, and the taste. Measured at your tap, not at the plant.
Get recommendations
Based on your results, we recommend the treatment that fits your water - a softener, reverse osmosis, or whole-home filtration - and nothing you do not need.
Data Sources
These figures describe the water your utility delivers, drawn from public federal and state records - not our own lab samples, and not what your home’s plumbing adds after the water arrives. Informational; not a substitute for testing your own tap.