Cost of Water Will Rise With New Source, Officials Tell Residents

Ridge cities are facing a challenging and expensive future effort to obtain water supplies for a growing population, according to officials from the Polk Regional Water Cooperative.

Courtesy PRWC

Projections of the current and future water demand across Polk County show a significant deficit developing in future years. The county is currently among the fastest-growing in the nation.

PRWC Executive Director Eric DeHaven joined a team of engineers at a forum this week to explain the status of an ambitious project that expects to extract brackish water from a depth of more than 1,000 feet, substantially lower than the Floridan aquifer that currently supplies water to area customers. The well is being drilled at a site southeast of Lake Wales near the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest.

The Dundee Town Council is considering imposing a building moratorium due to a shortage of water supplies.

Most area cities and towns, including Dundee, Eagle Lake, Lake Hamilton and Bartow, have already reserved water supplies from the initial phase of the project, which will produce 7.5 million gallons a day (MGD). That water should begin flowing in 2028.

Frostproof is not participating in the project.

Lake Wales is considered a "project associate" without rights to the water from the initial phase. The city has a current "water use permit" to pump up to 3.9 MGD from the Floridan through the city's seven wells but is using only about 2.8 MGD of that capacity on average. Consumption is projected to rise each year, leaving the city facing a shortfall by 2037.

The city's current permit expires in 2032, but SWFWMD will maintain the permitted amount in the future without increase.

The presentation, hosted by the City of Lake Wales, explained the effort that would include removal of chloride and other contaminants through a desalination process at a plant being built north of SR 60 east of lake Wales. The water will then be distributed to area cities through 61 miles of pipeline. Saline wastewater will then be returned to the ground through an injection well thousands of feet deep.

Underneath the "surficial" aquifer that contains the area's lakes lie layers of water-bearing formations labeled the intermediate, Floridan, and sub-Floridan aquifers. The Floridan provides the region's current supplies. The sub-Floridan is a saline strata with a large capacity.

In response to a question from Lake Wales News, DeHaven explained that, rather than simply increasing the downward movement of water through the various strata, the sub-Floridan aquifer will produce most of the water needed through lateral flows.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District says "demonstrated demand" for water in Polk County in 2025 will be 88 million MGD. By 2045 that is expected to increase by 32 MGD. SWFWMD is advancing the PRWC as an alternative to issuing future permits for water use from the Floridan aquifer, and is funding half the cost of the effort.

The entire multi-phase project is expected cost well over $1 billion.

Courtesy PRWC

David Edson, PE, senior consultant with Hoyle Tanner, the city's consulting engineers, said that the city faces a tough decision. Once committed to purchasing the water, he said, it must be used every day even if the demand is not present, adding to the cost of water for residents. Averaging the cost will cushion the impact to consumers.

Hoyle Tanner has recommended that Lake Wales become an active participant and reserve an additional half-million gallons of water a day from the second phase of the project, which is not expected to come online until about 2032.

The Lake Wales city commission had paused joining the cooperative to explore the possibility of a "go-it-alone" well and desalination effort, but Hoyle Tanner advised that the cost would be prohibitive.

The presentation was arranged at the request of citizens concerned about the impacts of development on current water supplies.