Haines City, FDEP reach new deal on wastewater improvements to prevent future spills

HAINES CITY — Haines City officials have been given a new series of deadlines to demonstrate the city can control its sewage and wastewater.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Haines City reached a third amended consent order Wednesday that outlines what steps the city will take to improve its wastewater and sewage management to bring it into compliance with state regulations.

The seven-page document outlines a series of four major improvement projects city officials are expected to complete by the end of this year. James Keene, Haines City's director of public works, said he's "most definitely confident" he can have all four completed on deadline.

"This all goes back to 2018, " he said. "In the last year and a half, there's action being taken. I can guarantee that."

In August 2018, the state agency first issued a consent order requiring Haines City to make improvements to how it handled its sewage and wastewater. The FDEP found the city had discharged unknown quantities of wastewater over a two-year period from March 2016 to 2018 and not reported 96 incidents within 24 hours as required by state law.

The city has been working to update its aging infrastructure ever since.

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In March, the FDEP hit Haines City with $157,000 in fines for over 65 million gallons of wastewater discharged from July to December without state authorization. Of the total, approximately 884,000 galloons were untreated.

Under the updated agreement, the FDEP states Haines City is to "cease and desist all discharges" of treated wastewater from its Public Access RIB, where it currently stores treated reusable wastewater ― commonly sold for agricultural irrigation or landscaping purposes.

The city is ordered to finish construction of two additional RIBs, or rapid infiltration basins. These are large earthen basins that will provide Haines City with significant additional storage for reclaimed water, Keene said.

One will be the Southern Dunes RIB located along North 10th Street, north of Ben W. Graham Park. The FDEP has ordered the city to have construction completed and working by June 30. Keene said construction is in its final stages, it's a matter of getting final inspection approval and starting operations.

"The RIBS will be most beneficial in wet weather," he said.

The city's second will be the interim Forest Hills RIB, where construction must be complete and operational by Sept. 30.

Keene said the city has completed construction of a ground storage tank for its reclaimed water. This will allow the city's reclaimed, or treated, wastewater to be held in an enclosed ground storage tank rather than a pond.

"It's very beneficial," Keene said. "It will increase the quality of our reclaimed water so it will be 100% better than it is today."

The city has agreed to make other improvements, including an oxidation ditch aeration, equalization tanks and a digester prior to Dec. 31. Keen said the equalization tanks are completed, and he's confident the rest of the projects will run on time.

The state agency specifies the fines the city will face for any discharges of wastewater in the future:

• $1,000 per day per discharge up to 5,000 gallons.
• $2,000 per day per discharge from 5,001 up to 10,000 gallons.
• $5,000 per day per discharge from 10,001 up to 25,000 gallons.
• $10,000 per day per discharge from 25,001 up to 100,000 gallons.
• $15,000 per day per discharge over 100,000 gallons.

Keene said the biggest challenge Haines City's wastewater system will face is keeping pace with rapid growth in population and serving new housing developments.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl.