Cape Coral moves quickly with very ambitious plans for the Seven Islands Project of high-rise condos, big commercial projects, marinas, gated communities, in Northwest Cape along Burntstore Road and the North Spreader Canal System while ignoring the environmental consequences. Incredibly, Some proposals made include dredging direct access canals on north end through the mangroves to provide shorter boat routes to Matlacha Pass. Altering wetlands to create beaches and parks is prohibited by federal laws from 1972. These proposals involve illegally dumping even more dirty water directly into the Spreader and Matlacha Pass. Review of aerial photographs verify the silting in of Buzzards Bay and loss of precious grasses habitats. 

Cape Coral removed the Ceitus Barrier in 2008. It agreed the barrier would be rebuilt  with a lock to accommodate boat passage. (That agreement was itself the settlement of a previous legal action.) Residents of Northwest Cape then improperly convinced the Cape Coral Council not to replace the barrier. NW Residents stayed the canal effluent was pristine, already flows through the mangroves and not environmentally harmful; plus, they said the barrier removal would cause real estate values and tax revenue to escalate. These speculations were completely wrong; but, city council were convinced and councilmen voted NOT to honor the agreement to rebuild the barrier. This vote resulted In a lawsuit (State of Florida v. The City of Cape Coral, Case No. 14-CA-0011204).

Data revealed by both Cape Coral and Lee County shows clearly the damages caused by barrier removal. At that time, Removal caused a 16-inch water level drop in the Spreader Canal with waters flushing in Matlacha Pass leaving the mangroves and other wetlands high and dry with damage to fish nurseries and estuary habitats. Summer rains result in the Spreader Canals being all fresh water. With no barrier in place, the dry season brings a changes to a salt water system in the canal. This constant flux from fresh water to salt water means salinity dependent species have little chance of survival in the Spreader Canals. It has become an environmental nightmare. Rebuilding the barrier would raise the water level 16 inches, rehydrate Estuary Habitats, stabilize the salinity as a brackish water system sustaining a wide variety of marine life.

Stormwater runoff of the 115-square-mile watershed pulses through the 200-foot-wide opening of the barrier's removal. With 55 inches of rainfall per year, the flow creates very fast currents dangerous to boat handling. Additionally, the heavily nutrient laden current causes silting in of boat channels, drowns oyster and sea grass beds and pollutes the Nationally protected Matlacha Pass Aquatic Preserve. The excessively fresh water runoff has wiped out the tunicates, sponges, oysters and other sedentary saltwater species in Matlacha Pass. Dissolved oxygen levels in the discharge zone often read zero after large rain storms resulting in fish kills or migration. 

The wetlands west of the Spreader Canal and Barrier acted as a stormwater treatment system until Barrier removal. The City pledged construction of a replacement stormwater system,however, this did not occur and ultimately not a viable idea. The City in violation of federal Clean Water Act should should be subject to a moratorium on all new development in the Northwest Cape; yet, plans for massive development progress. 

Now many years after Ceitus Barrier removal, the Cape plans destruction of natural habitats for building numerous and grandiose concrete communities while maintaining, hypocritically,  that both federal and state regulatory agencies are to blame for horrible and filthy water conditions. The Cape is perpetually litigants of federal and state courts hopelessly defending the refusal to rebuild the barrier with a boat lock agreed many years ago. Lawsuits, rightfully, are sure to continue until the Barrier is replaced.

Construction of a high speed boat lock, just as kust agreed to do in 2008, would resolve may detrimental effects of The Ceitus Barrier removal. Cape councilmen like to say they follow the science - it's time they actually do just that and rebuild the barrier. Continued deferral of Narrier construction will delay Cape plans for growth, increase burdens on Cape taxpayers and most disturbingly, result in even more serious devastation to the estuary of Matlacha Pass Aquatic Preserve.