FLAGLER

Palm Coast eyes $20M expansion for sewer plant

Matt Bruce
matt.bruce@news-jrnl.com
Palm Coast officials plan to expand this 2-million-gallons-per-day wastewater treatment plant, located along Peavy Grade just west of U.S. 1, to 4 million gallons per day by 2023. The city plans to use a low-interest loan from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to bankroll the anticipated $20-million expansion. [News-Journal/Matt Bruce]

PALM COAST — In June 2018, Palm Coast finished construction of a $30-million, state-of-the-art sewer plant that added 2 million gallons daily capacity to the city’s wastewater system.

Now city officials are eyeing a $20-million expansion that would double the plant’s capabilities to 4 million gallons by 2023.

Utility officials project that the demand on the city’s sewer system will surpass its current capacity by mid-2023. They claim the expansion is necessary to accommodate that anticipated growth.

Palm Coast can currently treat 8.83 million gallons of wastewater each day between its two plants.

Its original wastewater plant, built on Utility Drive in the early 1970s, has increased its footprint several times over the years, gradually expanding to accommodate up to 6.83 million gallons daily.

The facility was nearing capacity when officials began building the city’s second sewer plant in 2016. That plant is built on the 30-acre grounds of a city-owned utilities campus about three miles north of Palm Coast Parkway.

It was built to eventually grow out to 6 million gallons of flow per day. The proposed expansion is the second phase in that plan. The plant uses a “membrane bioreactor treatment process” to treat the wastewater and is considered an advanced wastewater facility.

The timeline for construction to begin is early 2021 with the new plant expected to be completed by November 2022, according to city documents. City officials plan to request a loan from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s “state revolving fund” to cover the project’s design and construction costs, which are expected to be $19.9 million. The anticipated interest rate for the DEP loan is 0.117 percent, according to city officials.

“You have an opportunity to borrow money at a very low interest rate so that future rate payers can pay for that capacity instead of if we used reserves, then our current rate payers would fund that capacity,” Richard Adams, the city’s public works/utility director, said during a tour of the facility on Jan. 8.

Adams indicated the expansion would essentially mirror the current setup. Plans include adding a lift station on site, new flow equalization tanks, chlorine contact chambers, high-chamber pumps for reclaimed water and new sludge holding tanks.

CPH Inc., a Sanford-based architectural and engineering consulting firm, prepared a wastewater management system facilities plan for the city in September 2019.

David Gierach, CPH’s president, presented that plan to Palm Coast City Council members during a workshop Tuesday, telling them both of the city’s wastewater plants are nearing their respective capacities. He said the plan will help the city determine needs, costs, and a schedule for expansion.

“It’s really determining when you need to do those expansions,” he said. “And, obviously, the whole idea is you don’t want to spend a substantial amount of money much earlier than when it’s needed. But then of course you don’t want it too late and not have the capacity when you have to have it.”

Palm Coast currently has just over “equivalent residential service connections,” or ERCs, on its sewer system, according to the wastewater plan. That is expected to grow to more than 42,200 ERCs by 2023, catapulting the city’s average daily flow to nearly 9 million gallons. Another 9,000 users are projected to be added to the system by 2040.

Palm Coast unveiled a “renewal and replacement” plan in 2018 intended to upgrade equipment in the city’s aging potable water and sewer infrastructures. That plan boosted the average Palm Coast homeowner’s utility bill by more than 20%.

Adams said he doesn’t expect current users to feel the impact of the new sewer plant. He noted builders and developers may absorb some of the cost in the rate capacity fees they pay for new development. But officials contend the “renewal and replacement” plan will help minimize any impact residents would feel.

“Right now, we’re not anticipating any rate increases to fund this particular project,” Adams said. “Now I wouldn’t say there won’t be any rate increase because our costs go up just like your costs go up. You can’t go to a restaurant any more for $5. Everything costs more. And when things cost more, we have to collect more. That’s just the way it is.”