Environmental activist Erin Brockovich to speak Wednesday at Fort Myers' Burroughs estate

Environmental and consumer activist Erin Brockovich will join a panel discussing clean water issues at The Burroughs Home & Gardens in Fort Myers on Wednesday afternoon.

The Uncommon Friends Foundation reports the program will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Calooshahatchee riverfront pavilion on the historic estate at 2505 First St.

The program's goal: Have experts further inform Brockovich and the audience about clean water challenges in Southwest Florida.

More:Toxic algae Florida: Activist Erin Brockovich coming to Fort Myers in Oct.

More:Environmental activist Erin Brockovich speaks out on Southwest Florida's algae crisis

There’s no admission charge; however, donations are welcome. Those dollars would be split between four participating nonprofit organizations to help defray costs.

Besides Brockovich, featured panelists are:

•John Cassani, Calusa Waterkeeper;

•Daniel Andrews, fishing guide and executive director, Captains for Clean Water; and

•Rae Ann Wessel, natural resource policy director, Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation.

Marilyn Stout, president of the Uncommon Friends board of directors, will open the panel discussion and introduce the speakers.

The pavilion seats about 250 comfortably. To accommodate more people guests are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs, which can be used on lawns adjacent to the pavilion.

The announcement follows days of speculation on the Lee County itinerary for Brockovich, a famed consumer and environmental activist.

Bob Bowcock. a California-based water consultant who frequently travels with Brockovich, last week mentioned a search was underway for a large venue in Cape Coral.

During the brainstorming that followed, Jennifer Nelson offered use of the pavilion at the Burroughs estate. Nelson is a Cape Coral city councilwoman and executive director for Uncommon Friends, a nonprofit organization headquartered at the estate.

“Anyone who comes should come to learn and to listen,” Nelson said, adding:

“The hope is to be able to educate Erin if she ends up advocating for our water quality before Congress.”

As of Monday afternoon, it’s unclear where else Brockovich might visit in Lee County.

She was at a public gathering in Stuart on Sunday, scheduled to tour Lake Okeechobee with Florida Audubon officials Monday and tour the Everglades on Tuesday before heading Wednesday to Fort Myers, which has been hit all summer by a double whammy of red tide in the Gulf of Mexico and toxic blue-green algae coming down the Caloosahatchee River from Lake Okeechobee.

Brockovich gained fame when, as a legal clerk, she built a case claiming a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. facility was polluting drinking water wells in and around the town of Hinkley, California, with the chemical hexavalent chromium.

The case was settled in 1996 with a $333 million payment by the power company. A 2000 movie about the case, titled "Erin Brockovich," featured actress Julia Roberts portraying Brockovich in an Oscar-winning performance.

Tyler Treadway of the USA TODAY Florida Network contributed to this report.