An agreement signed by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Charlotte County will bring reclaimed water to several Charlotte County Schools and many other customers in Port Charlotte.
The Charlotte County Regional Reclaimed Water Expansion project consists of constructing approximately 58,500 linear feet reclaimed water transmission line to transport reclaimed water from Charlotte County East Port Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF), west through Port Charlotte.
When complete, this project will provide up to 830,000 gallons per day (gpd) of reclaimed water, which will offset about 620,000 gpd of potable water being used for irrigation.
This project will meet the irrigation demands of the Charlotte County Stadium, Murdock Junior High School, Port Charlotte High School, Charlotte County School Board Offices, Charlotte County Administration Center, O’Donnel Park and Franz Ross Park. This project will also support Restlawn Cemetery, the Town Center Mall and multiple commercial customers on U.S. 41, including Wal-Mart and Home Depot and the medians and park strips on Harbor Boulevard, Kings Highway, and US 41.
Because this project is part of a regional effort to increase the use of reclaimed water, the Peace River Basin Board and the Governing Board each contributed $221,625 in fiscal year (FY) 2004 for this project. The District is expected to approve another $1 million, divided evenly among the basin and the District’s Water Supply and Resource Development fund, in FY 2006. Additional funding is contingent upon board approval.
Charlotte County has budgeted an additional $2.89 million of its funds for this project.
This project is expected to be complete within 3 years.
Reclaimed water is wastewater that has received at least secondary treatment and is used for a beneficial purpose, such as irrigation. By offsetting demand for ground water and surface water, this alternative, non-traditional water source reduces stress on environmental systems, provides economic benefits by delaying costly water system expansions, and eliminates the need to discharge wastewater effluent to surface waters.