Orange County staff will seek new direction from commissioners Tuesday on how to address ongoing concerns with water and wastewater infrastructure in Wedgefield, an unincorporated area of about 8,000 people not far from the county’s eastern edge.
Wedgefield residents have complained of water quality concerns and high water rates for years, and last year, an analysis by Orange County Utilities determined both water and wastewater systems are in a “substandard state.” Private company Pluris owns and operates the water and wastewater systems.
The county has been trying to work with residents on a solution, including potentially acquiring the Pluris systems. But that option comes at a high price, about $83 million, and Governor Ron DeSantis recently vetoed $7.5 million lawmakers had included for Wedgefield in this year’s state budget.
RELATED: Governor’s veto breeds more uncertainty for infrastructure in East Orange County
Nearly all the 1,766 parcels in Wedgefield served by Pluris’ water and wastewater are residential, according to Orange County. But the utility also works with a small number of commercial and irrigation customers, including the Wedgefield Golf Club.
Craig Cooke, who’s owned the golf club since 2017, also has water quality concerns. But while he understands and empathizes with Wedgefield residents’ worries about Pluris’ drinking water system, Cooke said he’s even more concerned about the wastewater system.
Under an agreement Cooke has with Pluris, the utility discharges reclaimed water — treated wastewater — onto the golf course for irrigation. But that reclaimed water isn’t being treated to the standards laid out by either their agreement or the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Cooke said, making it difficult to grow healthy grass for his golf course greens.
“We are the waste field, or sprayfield for the community of Wedgefield,” Cooke said. “And we have a contract with Pluris to receive the water, and our concern is that we're not receiving the water to the quality that we require to be able to even maintain a decent golf course.”
Most recently, in late June, the reclaimed water pumped onto the golf course tested significantly high for chloride and sodium, Cooke said, citing independent water sampling results. Central Florida Public Media reviewed those test results and forwarded them to FDEP and Pluris for their reaction, but neither entity responded before this story was published.
“[At] the end of the day, we've continued to have a relationship with [Pluris]. Because we need to use that water, and environmentally, it's the right thing to do,” Cooke said. “But we're getting to a point now where, if we don't start to see a change or an effort by Pluris to deal with the sodium … We run the risk of losing our business.”
Public records show FDEP also previously found high chloride and sodium levels in Pluris’ wastewater system, including in July 2019, when the agency documented a “significant out-of-compliance” status for the utility. The following month, the agency renewed the five-year permit for the utility’s wastewater treatment facility.
The expiration date on Pluris’ current wastewater plant permit was January 27 of this year. Public records show although the utility applied to renew the permit nearly a year ago, that application is still pending with FDEP. Twice in the last year, the agency granted Pluris extra time to submit necessary information.
Martin Friedman, an attorney representing Pluris, said it’s not unusual for utilities to ask for and receive extra time to complete such applications.
For the permit renewal process currently underway, Friedman said, although FDEP staff pointed out changes they’d recommend for the wastewater plant — like cleaning up rust and corrosion — none of the issues were serious enough to threaten the plant’s structural integrity or capacity to operate. Still, Pluris agreed to “do a whole bunch of work to make the plant look pretty,” in line with FDEP’s notes, Friedman said.
“There’s nothing that’s catastrophic that’s outstanding,” Friedman said. “We're doing everything that DEP wants us to do, even though we may not think it's required. We're doing all that, but it's just taking time.”
Friedman acknowledged it’s important for Pluris to comply with the terms laid out by FDEP and the utility’s contract with Cooke — and said he believes the utility is doing just that.
“If we're not providing the water in accordance with DEP requirements and the specific agreement we have with [Cooke], then we ought to fix it,” Friedman said. “But I don't — we don't think that's true.”
FDEP did not respond to a request for comment in time for this story.
“The can's been kicked down the road. And I think there's a certain amount of accountability there that needs to be at least reflected on."Craig Cooke, owner of Wedgefield Golf Club
Of drinking water quality concerns Wedgefield residents have raised, Friedman is doubtful: “I don't know why people don't like the water. There's certainly nothing health-wise wrong with it.”
For Cooke’s part, he said he knows Pluris has a tough problem on their hands, given the high cost of upgrading old infrastructure and Wedgefield’s relatively small population. And he said he appreciates the utility’s prior efforts to improve water infrastructure, including by adding a water softening plant in 2016.
But Cooke fears that water-softening process may actually be partly to blame for the high sodium levels he’s finding in water pumped to his golf course, because of the salty, brine byproduct that process creates. And since many Wedgefield residents have chosen to invest in their own water-softening devices, that additional brine could be adding even more sodium to the water, Cooke said.
It’s a difficult — and pricey — problem. But for the sake of Wedgefield and Orange County, it’s not one that can afford to be ignored, Cooke said.
“Not that we're saying we don't understand the difficulty of the situation. We do,” Cooke said. “It's an $85 million problem that's not going to go away. And it needs a lot of money spent on it.
“The can's been kicked down the road. And I think there's a certain amount of accountability there that needs to be at least reflected on,” Cooke said.
