Calusa Waterkeeper and City of Fort Myers find Differing Fecal Bacteria Data

Efforts to clean up Billy’s Creek are getting a boost. The City of Fort Myers and Calusa Waterkeeper are working together surveying Billy’s Creek to help make our water cleaner.

“We sample nine locations, four of which are on Billy’s Creek,” said David Hempleman.

The problem is, surveyors are getting conflicting data.

The city works with a company to sample creek water for fecal bacteria. Their data from June 2020 says birds are the source of bacteria.

“This is where the Calusa Waterkeepers could be helpful if they run their own independent data so they have information, that would be useful to our efforts,” said Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson.

Calusa Waterkeeper John Cassani says they tried to keep their own data. “We’d sent him a letter back in January 2018 saying we wanted to work together on developing a Billy’s Creek Restoration Plan.”