$2.9 million cost-share helps fund water quality project

Posted On: February 18, 2020

The Volusia County Council inked a nearly $3 million agreement Tuesday with the state to help pay for a pipeline to redirect sewage from a county wastewater plant in Deltona to another county facility in DeBary that will provide for a higher level of treatment. The project is coming to fruition through the cooperative efforts of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the St. Johns River Water Management District.

It’s all part of a plan to improve water quality in the 130-square-mile Blue Spring springshed by consolidating county-operated wastewater treatment facilities in the area. Originally, the county operated three plants in the region – the Four Towns facility in Orange City, the Deltona North facility and the Southwest Regional water reclamation facility in DeBary. But in 2014, the state established enhanced water quality standards for the Blue Spring basin. The water quality standards came out of a state report that concluded nutrients were impairing Blue Spring and Blue Spring Run in the Middle St. Johns River Basin. 

That’s when the county began evaluating various options for upgrading wastewater treatment. A critical factor for the county was finding the most efficient and cost-effective means possible. But it was also about being good environmental stewards and working to improve spring systems that Volusia County is blessed to have, Mike Ulrich, the county director of water resources and utilities told the council Tuesday morning. While septic tanks and fertilizers contribute to water quality issues, so do wastewater treatment plants. And that was the reason for the push for the county to go to a higher level of treatment and reduce the number of plants.

“We have this marvelous resource, but we also have an incredible responsibility….,” said Ulrich. “We basically had to up our game.”

Key to the plan were major investments the county made – with funding assistance from both state agencies – over the last few years to the Southwest Regional water reclamation facility to upgrade its capacity and level of treatment. With the improvements in place, the county decommissioned its Four Towns treatment facility in 2018. And now the county is preparing to decommission the Deltona North facility on Wolfpack Run as well and pump all of its wastewater to the Southwest Regional water reclamation facility. But first, they have to build a high-capacity lift station at the Deltona facility and an approximately 3-mile-long sewer pipe connecting to existing infrastructure between the two plants.

The project is estimated to cost between $5.8 million and $6.2 million. On Tuesday, the County Council unanimously approved a $2,925,000 cost sharing agreement to help pay for the project. The St. Johns River Water Management District is providing up to $1,425,000 and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is providing up to $1,500,000. These kinds of big projects are only possible by developing good working relationships with regional partners like DEP and the water management district, noted County Council member Deb Denys. The pipeline project is now ready to get under way following years of planning and joint efforts.

“This is how we define success,” said Denys.

County Manager George Recktenwald praised staff for its work in getting the project shovel-ready and qualified for all that grant money. But he said it was the council that had the foresight to begin planning for this day all the way back in 2014 so that the Southwest Regional water reclamation facility would be prepared to handle the added and upgraded treatment capacity necessary to decommission the other two plants.

“For that advanced wastewater treatment in DeBary, we were ahead of its time,” Recktenwald said. “We did not have to do that at that time. We could have waited until it was forced upon us. We did not. We chose to go forth and be a leader….”

“We were ahead of the curve, not behind it,” added County Chair Ed Kelley. “We are taking action, not reaction.”

With the higher level of nutrient removal at the DeBary facility, the pipeline project is expected to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous in the watershed by approximately 8,400 pounds a year. The move also is expected to reduce the county’s utility operation and maintenance costs. With Tuesday’s approval of the cost sharing agreement, the construction contract for the work is tentatively scheduled to come before the County Council for a vote in early April. Pursuant to the agreement, the project must be completed by Sept. 30, 2021.