21 AUGUST 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Two Cities Working Together Adapted from Information by Caloosahatchee Connect In 2018, the City of Cape Coral and the City of Fort Myers in Florida entered into an environmentally beneficial interlocal agreement to construct a pipeline across the Caloosahatchee River to transmit up to 12 million gallons per day of reclaimed water from Fort Myers to Cape Coral. The reclaimed water transmission pipeline would allow the City of Fort Myers to dispose of surplus reclaimed water in an environmentally friendly way, while reducing the need to discharge into the river. The additional reclaimed water will allow the City of Cape Coral to provide water for irrigation use and fire protection purposes. The reclaimed water will reduce withdrawals from freshwater canals and help maintain water levels during the dry season. Open-cut pipe installation will take place along Everest Parkway in Cape Coral, connecting the pipeline from the Everest Water Reclamation Facility to the river entry point at Horton Park. The pipeline is being installed under the river with an exit point located in the green space just south of the Midpoint Bridge in Fort Myers. The City of Fort Myers will then connect the reclaimed water main to their South Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility. The project is requiring two different types of trenchless technology to complete the work in both cities. The City of Cape Coral is utilizing horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to install pipe underneath the Caloosahatchee River while the City of Fort Myers is utilizing microtunneling to install a portion of the reclaimed water main underneath busy intersections along the pipeline route. In March, contractors for the City of Cape Coral began the HDD segment to install the reclaimed water main pipe under the Caloosahatchee River to the connection point in Fort Myers. The first pass required drilling equipment to work from both sides of the river, then meet in the middle to create the path for the bore. The longest phase of the HDD will be reaming, or enlarging, the bore with a single large drill rig on the Fort Myers side. This drill rig will be contained within the soundwall enclosure for the duration of drilling. Support equipment, such as cleaning tanks, vacuum trucks, pumps, and excavators will be located on the Cape Coral side during this phase. Pipe deliveries and assembly will occur exclusively on the Cape Coral side of the bore. As each pipe is fused, the assembled pipe is moved on rollers toward Horton Park. The contractor elevated the fused pipes to approximately 16 feet at 25th Avenue to enable vehicles to drive under the pipe. The pipe will continue to be fused until the entire length of pipe is fully assembled. The fully assembled pipe resting on rollers will be pulled until the entire pipeline is pulled into the borehole. By using horizontal directional drilling, the pipeline will be installed with no disturbance to the river bottom, avoiding harm to the environment. When complete, this over 7600-foot reclaimed water transmission main will be the largest and longest subaqueous horizontal directional drill project in the United States to use fusible polyvinyl chloride pipe. Temporarily elevated pipe in Cape Coral. WTR Construction inside the South Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility in Fort Myers.
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