Fort Myers laid out response to fecal bacteria concerns at Manuel’s Branch

FORT MYERS, Fla — Manuel’s Branch, a creek in Fort Myers, has been under a microscope for years, and Fox 4 has been covering the issue since at least 2021.

The city addressed concerns about high levels of fecal bacteria in the water following a recent investigation. Fox 4’s Fort Myers Community Correspondent Austin Schargorodski was at Tuesday’s meeting when the city laid out what it said it was doing to address it.
Watch to hear the city's response to the fecal bacteria investigation at Manuel's Branch:

This all started after Calusa Waterkeeper raised red flags about Manuel’s Branch, a creek just south of Lee Memorial Hospital. A two-year investigation showed consistently high fecal bacteria levels.

The group said the city stopped testing for human sources of bacteria in the summer of 2024. Calusa Waterkeeper volunteer Jason Pim said that could point to human waste and asked the city to step in with more testing and a clear plan.

“When you see a bacteria notification at a public beach, that number is 70. Here we get numbers all the time that are like 2,000, 4,000 range, as high as 10,000,” Pim said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the city said it studied three concerning areas of Manuel’s Branch, including near the park. City officials said recent testing showed levels falling into what they called a “difficult to discern” range.

The city said those levels do not require immediate action, but do require ongoing monitoring, which officials said was happening through a long-term pollution reduction plan.

Officials also said they had not found a single “smoking gun” source for the bacteria. They said it could come from animals, stormwater, and aging infrastructure. However, they said they did not have the legal jurisdiction to inspect it.

“We appreciate their efforts. But ultimately, their bacteria sampling will not replace a proven and established and regulatory accepted protocol for sampling the watershed,” a city representative said.

Manuel’s Branch had been an issue since at least 2021, when the Department of Environmental Protection found that the city failed to address long-term elevated levels of bacteria.

City council members said they wanted more direct and regular updates from the city about that water quality data. They made a motion to have it brought to council on a quarterly basis.

Pim said it was a step in the right direction. “It’s gonna take time. And we have to work hard on it together to make an impact. Making babysteps and admitting there’s a problem we can work on together is steps in the right direction,” Pim said.