Polk County breaks ground on new water production facility to meet future water demand
LAKE WALES, Fla. - Polk County is one of the fastest growing areas in Florida, so finding a sustainable water supply is a top priority.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Southeast Lower Floridian Aquifer Water Production facility in Lake Wales on Wednesday morning.
Polk County broke ground Wednesday on a new water production facility to meet future water demand.
It's the first project in the Southwest Florida Water Management District's portion of the county, and will supply alternative water to 11 different municipalities.
The process uses reverse osmosis to treat the highly mineralized water taken from 8,000 feet below the surface to deliver up to 12.5 million gallons per day.
"Reverse Osmosis is the most effective way of treating any type of water, not only potable drinking water," said Brian Armstrong, the Executive Director of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. "This will be high quality, safe drinking water for Polk County."
The Upper Floridian Aquifer is essentially tapped out so it's no longer a sustainable option.
"This well field will go to the lower Floridian Aquifer which is much deeper and confined from the Upper Aquifer so it will protect the surface water, wetlands and lakes that are a deeper source and confined source and will not have those impacts propagate to the surface," said Eric DeHaven, the Executive Director of Polk Regional Water Cooperative (PRWC).
Not only will the project protect the environment, but it will also help meet the county's future water supply needs.
Population growth is expected to add an additional 1.3 million residents by 2040 and as a result, public supply demands are projected to increase more than 145 million gallons per day.
Polk County is one of the fastest growing areas in Florida, so finding a sustainable water supply is a top priority.
"They have a future now because they have a sustainable supply through 2044 whereas before we didn't know. Great effort by the folks in Polk County," said Armstrong.
More projects are being planned to supply future generations to come such as the potential Peace Creek Canal using surface water as well as one off of the Peace River.
This Lake Wales project will be completed by Fall 2028.
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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Carla Bayron.
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