LEE COUNTY, Fla.- State and local officials are kicking off a series of projects to restore water quality on the Caloosahatchee river. Some are already in the works, or are already completed, like Downtown river basin.

Wednesday morning, state and local leaders joined to celebrate finalizing a single master plan of bettering water quality for the Caloosahatchee estuary. The river basin project is a good example of what many of the projects are about: capturing stormwater and treating it before releasing it into the river.

The State Department of Environmental Protection estimates there will be about 60 projects in total along the Caloosahatchee river basin. Many involve various methods of collecting stormwater and filtering it of nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus.

City and county governments across Southwest Florida have chipped in money for the projects, which combined, are expected to reduce nitrogen in the waterway by nearly 150,000 pounds a year.

Early estimates from DEP show at least $15 million has been spent on the projects so far.