Council awards $10.4 million contract for water quality improving utility pipeline project in DeLeon Springs

For those on the front lines of the efforts to protect the delicate water basin around DeLeon Spring, help is on the way.

Plans have been in the works for some time to bring central water and sewer lines to the U.S. Highway 17 corridor that runs through the center of the DeLeon Springs community – home to the freshwater spring that serves as both a popular recreational attraction and a critical manatee habitat. The environmental water quality in the spring basin is impaired due to an excessive nutrient loading into the groundwater. One source of nutrients within the spring shed is Onsite Sewer Treatment and Disposal Systems (OSTDS), otherwise known as septic tanks. Connecting facilities on septic tanks in critical areas to a central sewage collection system that provides advanced wastewater treatment will reduce the amount of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, that are impacting the quality of the water being discharged at DeLeon Springs.

The design and permitting of the water and wastewater mains along the U.S. 17 corridor – approximately three miles of pipeline – is nearing completion. On Tuesday, the Volusia County Council awarded a $10.4 million contract to Wharton-Smith, Inc. of Sanford to construct the lines along with a force main and lift station. The utility lines will start at Louise S. McInnis Elementary School in DeLeon Springs and run south along U.S. 17, connecting to the City of DeLand’s water and wastewater system at County Road 15A.

While the county is picking up part of the cost, the county has received a large amount of grant funds from the state to cover some of the expense. Because the primary focus of the sewer line is to improve water quality, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) previously committed $2.5 million in funding for the project. And on Tuesday, the County Council approved another $3.9 million grant agreement with DEP, bringing the state’s funding share to $6.4 million.

“The wastewater infrastructure represents an essential step toward improving water quality within the spring basin by establishing a centralized sewer treatment system and allowing the conversion of private wastewater package plants and conventional septic systems,” states the agenda item accompanying Tuesday’s DEP grant agreement. “This strategy will help reduce current levels of nutrient pollutants while providing much needed infrastructure to prevent additional nitrogen loading resulting from increased population within the priority focus area of the spring basin.”

Construction is expected to begin later this spring and take approximately 14 months to complete.

Another part of the county’s strategy to improve environmental water quality is to encourage residents who live close to delicate spring basins to upgrade their conventional septic systems through the addition of nitrogen-reducing enhancements. On Tuesday, the County Council agreed to seek a $1.1 million DEP grant that will help reduce the cost of upgrading up to 148 septic systems.

Also Tuesday, the County Council discussed a state-mandated wastewater treatment feasibility analysis report for DeLeon Spring. The spring is one of 30 Outstanding Florida Springs established in 2016 under the Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act. A total of 24 of the 30 springs, including DeLeon Spring, are considered impaired – necessitating a septic system remediation plan. The plan includes a septic system inventory and an evaluation of infrastructure upgrades and ways to pay for it.