Florida city begins providing treated wastewater for turf irrigation
28 Jun, 2010 i-newsLEESBURG, FL – Leesburg, a progressive city of 20,000 people in central Florida located north of Orlando, now provides homeowners and a golf course with recycled water to water their turfgrass and ornamentals.
The city’s largest wastewater plant, which can handle up to 4.5 million gallons a day, in late May began delivering treated wastewater, to more than 1,000 customers in the Legacy and Arlington Ridge communities as well as the Arlington Ridge Golf Course. It is providing the highly treated recycled water for turf and landscape irrigation to help protect Florida’s limited supply of fresh drinking water.
The city also will provide reclaimed irrigation to one of the golf courses at the Plantation at Leesburg.
The Canal Street wastewater plant, which can treat up to 3.5 million gallons a day, also will begin providing treated reuse for irrigation soon. When available, that facility will serve customers in the surrounding neighborhood and along U.S. Highway 441.
Providing treated wastewater for irrigation is vital to saving a small portion of Florida’s fresh drinking water. More than 95% of Florida draws water from the Floridan aquifer – a vast but limited underground supply that is threatened by increased demands from development across the state.
Up to 60% of a typical home’s use of that fresh water is for irrigating lawns and landscaping. In many cases, homeowners use much more water than their yards need.
The best solution is to conserve drinking water inside and outside your home. Limit lawn watering to two days a week at this time of the year as prescribed by the St. Johns River Water Management District.
Leesburg is offering an additional option by providing treated wastewater rather than potable water for irrigation. The city started early planning for this irrigation method seven years ago, and it has worked hard and spent millions to build the needed facilities. The water management district has assisted with $3 million in grants to Leesburg.
Last year the Florida Department of Environmental Protection recognized Leesburg twice with an Operations Excellence Award for top performance above thousands of other similarly sized utilities across the state. One award went to the Canal Street wastewater treatment plant – the other went to the city’s Royal Highlands water treatment plant.
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