Fort Myers neighbors demand answers on late water contamination alert

Fort Myers officials admitted they failed to follow protocol after water samples tested positive for coliform bacteria last November.

Despite retesting within 24 hours and obtaining negative results, the city did not conduct the necessary follow-up tests within the required 30 days.

The required assessment was not completed until June 2025, six months later, after the Department of Environmental Protection intervened.

Sarah Burke, a Fort Myers resident, expressed her frustration about the delayed notification.

“They are only telling us about this now. The public needs to be notified immediately,” said Burke.

Burke received a letter from the city on July 11. 

A city spokesperson confirmed that the water has been safe. However, the procedural lapse is a concern of Burke’s.

Councilman Fred Burson learned about the issue during a city council workshop.

“I think it was just an oversight. But I think more importantly was the fact that the testing was done on time, and it was found to be clean water; there was no real harm to the citizens outside of just not being notified properly,” said Burson.

Burson acknowledged the potential risk if a similar situation occurred in the future without proper notification.

“If the water was contaminated, it would need to let people know right away,” he said. “But in listening to Mr. Moulton the other day, I think they’ve corrected that problem where anytime they do a test, the notification will be automatic, instead of them doing it manually.”

The city suggested that weather conditions might have been responsible for the positive test results last fall.

Regarding the Water System Public Notice shared at Monday’s City Council Work Session, the City collects 90 routine compliance samples every month to ensure the quality of water in the City’s distribution system. After a highly unusual number of samples tested positive for coliform bacteria in November of 2024, the City of Fort Myers Public Utilities Department retested within 24 hours of receiving the test results (per protocol). The results of those tests were negative. The Public Utilities Department completed the Level 1 assessment targeted at identifying possible causes for the unusually high number of samples in June and alerted the public that the Level 1 assessment was completed more than 30 days from the event through the Tier 2 Public Notification process. In addition to posting the notice in a newspaper of daily circulation, the City added the notice to all utility customer water bills. The City assures residents the water was and is safe.

City of Fort Myers Public Utilities Department

WINK NEWS followed up on that statement with the city and was then provided the second response below. 

The City looks critically at all positive results and any outside variables that could have contributed to the positive sample result. This could include factors such as nearby water main breaks or boil water notices, sampling errors, lab errors, low residual chlorine, or a backflow incident. In the event of November 2024, the City identified an unusual occurrence where 3 positive samples were collected within 2 hours of each other on a single day earlier in the month. Follow-up samples collected immediately after the initial sampling event were all absent for bacteria. The samples all had sufficient chlorine residual and there were no known breaks that day. The City contacted the lab that collects our samples and asked if anything could have contributed to the positives. The lab stated that inclement weather could have contributed to positives and the results should be invalidated. The City proceeded with the belief that the samples were collected improperly and were not indicative of the condition of our distribution system at that time. In May 2025, ahead of finalizing the annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), the City requested official approval of the invalidation from the FDEP. On June 10th , the FDEP notified the City that it would not invalidate the samples. With the CCR due to customers by July 1st, the City elected to complete the Level 1 assessment on June 13th. The Tier 2 public notice, which notifies the public that the City exceeded the maximum timeframe to complete the level 1 assessment, was published in the newspaper and sent out in all July water bills.