DEP Applauds St. Lucie West’s State-of-the-Art Water Plant Expansion

St. Lucie West Service District as they celebrate the grand opening of a new high-tech water treatment plant that will provide reliable drinking water to roughly 20,000 area residents. Over the past year, St. Lucie West worked through the state’s rigorous and protective permitting process to develop an expansion plan using the best available technology and offering the highest level of drinking water treatment.

“The Department encourages water treatment systems to look to the future as they upgrade their operations,” said DEP Southeast District Director Kevin Neal. “We commend St. Lucie West for equipping their system with innovative and environmentally protective features -- this facility is an example of the effort and commitment required to obtain, treat and deliver water to our faucets.”

The newly expanded water treatment plant will draw water from the deep Floridan Aquifer. To date, St. Lucie West drinking water has come from shallow surficial aquifers, overuse of which can strain wetlands and lakes. Three new Floridan Aquifer wells have been installed for use of this more plentiful source of raw drinking water 1,300 feet below ground.

“Ground water is the source of drinking water for almost 90 percent of the state’s population,” said DEP Southeast District Water Facilities Program Administrator Linda Horne. “This expansion will allow St. Lucie West the flexibility to change with water supply needs, while being stewards of responsible use for the area’s underground water resources.”

The plant’s new high pressure “reverse osmosis” system removes virtually all water impurities and will treat up to 3.4 million gallons per day. Other expanded features include a 2 million gallon storage tank for daily peaks in demand; four high-service pumps delivering 4,500 gallons per minute; and a massive emergency generator capable of providing 100 percent power to the operation.

The Department's Water Resource Management Program is responsible for protecting the quality of Florida’s drinking water as well as its rivers, lakes, wetlands and underground resources. DEP conducts permitting, compliance and enforcement programs for Florida’s more than 6,300 public drinking water systems. Under the leadership of Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature, Florida has invested close to $1.9 billion to improve wastewater treatment, clean up stormwater pollution and upgrade drinking water facilities, funding more than 950 projects statewide since 1999.

For more information visit www.dep.state.fl.us/water.