Village of Estero Stormwater Master Plan

The Village of Estero hired the JR Evans Engineering team to prepare a specific Stormwater Master Plan for The Village with the objective of creating a detailed and calibrated model of the Village's stormwater infrastructure to be utilized in evaluating the system for improvements, defining regulatory activities, and assessing impacts of other development projects. The initial steps of the project included comprehensive data collection, obtaining additional survey information, verification of the status of implementation of the recommendations contained within the 1999/2009 South Lee County Watershed Plan and Update and meetings with community officials and stakeholders to collect records of problem areas.

Once all the data was collected and complied, the existing MIKE SHE integrated surface/ground water model prepared for the South Lee County Watershed Plan Update in 2008 was updated by the sub consultant, Water Science Associates, to reflect mode current hydrologic conditions of the basins within and adjacent to The Village. Water Science Associates conducted the hydrologic and hydraulic modeling using MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 for the Estero River watershed that included the watersheds of Mullock Creek, Estero River, Halfway Creek, and the Imperial River. The model domain included portions of Six Mile Cypress and Able Canal so that boundary conditions did not affect the primary study area (Estero River and Halfway Creek). The model was calibrated using more than 200 surface and ground water stations for 2013-2014. All key culverts, weirs, gates, and bridges within the study area were included in the model. Design storm simulations for the 25- and 100-year events were conducted using the calibrated model, and the 100-year design storm results were compared to observed water levels during large rainfall events in August and September 2017. Due to the noted differences in the comparison, an inventory of high water marks for the 2017 events were obtained and used as additional calibration points for the model. Once the 2017 calibration was completed for the foundation MIKE SHE model, the resulting flows and stages for the tributaries coming into The Village of Estero were used as input data for the basin-specific model of The Village.

The next steps included building a more detailed model to analyze the major drainage networks within The Village utilizing the ICPR, Version 4 program. Once the ICPR Model was established, the JR Evans Engineering team analyzed the waterways within The Village to evaluate existing conditions, document problem areas and consider alternatives for addressing the noted problem areas. As a sub-task to the Master Plan project, the J.R. Evans Engineering team also identified three (3) known small scale drainage issues within The Village and conducted evaluations to prepare a recommended improvement plan/activity for each.