Seminole County is moving ahead with a storm-hardening plan for the Greenwood Lakes Water Reclamation Facility in Lake Mary, a sewer plant that took in more flow than its permit allows when Hurricane Ian hit in 2022.
The Board of County Commissioners is set on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to adopt a facilities plan for the work, a document the Florida Department of Environmental Protection requires before it releases money from its Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
The item is on the consent agenda for the 9:30 a.m. meeting, and the plan says the session doubles as the required public meeting on the project's costs and what it could mean for customers' bills.
What the storms showed
The plant at 701 Green Way Blvd. is rated to treat 3 million gallons a day and handles wastewater from Longwood, Lake Mary and the county's northeast service area, according to the plan prepared by Carollo Engineers. During Hurricane Ian, daily flow topped that 3 million gallon permit limit on Sept. 29 and 30, 2022, and the plant logged high turbidity in its filtered water.
Hurricane Milton in October 2024 again sent incoming flow and filtered-water turbidity up, and the plan cites both storms as evidence the plant needs more redundancy in wet weather.
The fix
County utilities staff list four pieces of work:
- A flow equalization tank that also strips out grit, to hold back surges so the plant stays within its rated capacity in extreme weather.
- A new generator and switchgear for backup power, so treatment keeps running when the grid goes down.
- Upgrades at the Timacuan Master Pump Station and new valves on the force main along Rinehart Road, letting the county send about 500,000 gallons a day to its Yankee Lake plant instead.
- A new force main from the Hampton Park Master Pump Station to Greenwood Lakes to carry more flow.
The plan also lists a new headworks structure, another secondary clarifier, a disk filter and a belt filter press as reliability improvements.
