Port Orange receives $15M in state funding to upgrade water reclamation facility
The city of Port Orange has secured a $15 million state grant to be used for “substantial upgrades” to the city’s water reclamation facility, which will help fortify the building against flooding and storm surges.
Port Orange’s water reclamation facility (or WRF) has been in operation for more than 30 years, treating “up to 12 million gallons a day of sewage and other wastewater from Port Orange, Ponce Inlet and Daytona Beach Shores that can be reused for irrigation purposes and recharging our wetlands,” according to city spokesman Mike Springer.
It is located at the northeast corner of Oak Street and Spruce Creek Road.
“We are grateful to the state of Florida for helping support our commitment to maintaining the wastewater treatment infrastructure and ensuring continued high-quality service to our citizens for years to come,” Mayor Don Burnette said in a press release.
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The money comes from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program, which “provides low-interest loans for planning, designing and constructing water pollution control facilities,” according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
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According to Springer, the planned upgrades “will not only ensure it is running as efficiently but will allow for improvements that will make the facility more resilient during severe weather by hardening it against outages and storm surges.”
These upgrades include an “overhaul of vital electrical components within the plant, along with the installation of two new natural gas-powered generators and various equipment enhancements,” according to the city.
Additionally, there will be “improvements to the WRF’s filters and transfer pumps to meet the current hurricane standards, elevation of critical electrical control buildings, and the installation of additional flood-proof barriers to mitigate the risk of flooding during a storm surge.”
“The city is extremely grateful for this significant financial support as it enables us to proactively make these vital upgrades which will ensure our facility can run effectively when our residents need it most,” Springer wrote in an email to The News-Journal.
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The city secured the grant last year, when Mead & Hunt, its engineering consultant, assisted the city in “applying for the grant to cover these particular upgrades,” Springer added.
The city expects the upgrades to begin “late 2024.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Port Orange plans $15M upgrade of water reclamation facility
