The Southwest Water Reclamation Facility is a 6.6 million gallons per day Advanced Treatment Facility that normally runs in the conventional treatment mode. Phosphorus and Nitrogen levels do not need to be reduced for public access spray irrigation, in fact they are beneficial due to the higher nutrient levels. Also the chemical costs are reduced when not using Aluminum Sulfate and Methanol for the nutrient removal. The Southwest Water Reclamation Facility started receiving flow from the new gravity sewer expansion in June, 1994 and has been 100% reuse since startup. The alternate disposal for the plant effluent is through an inter-connect with the river discharge line at the Everest Facility. The Southwest Water Reclamation Facility has consistently met all state and federal permit requirements since startup.

The City of Cape Coral’s reuse water system consists of the Everest Parkway Water Reclamation Facility, the Southwest Water Reclamation Facility and five canal pumping stations placed in various locations along the City’s vast freshwater canal system. This system provides irrigation water for domestic households and commercial buildings. The canal water is used to supplement the reuse system when the demand for irrigation water is more than both of the Water Reclamation Facilities can supply.

When water is pumped from the canals it first passes through a course screen followed by a fine screen and is chlorinated before it enters the reuse system. The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system located at the Everest Facility consistently monitors the reclaimed water system including the system pressure, flow, canal levels, and canal station alarms via radio.

Since the inception of the reclaimed water system, over 1.9 billion gallons of potable water has been saved due to potable water no longer being used for irrigation purposes.