Ocoee wins $2.2 million in water grants as county moves to raise wholesale reclaimed rates

The City of Ocoee announced this week that it has received $2,200,000 in grant awards to support reclaimed-water infrastructure and septic-to-sewer connections, while city staff warned that Orange County intends to reclassify the city's reclaimed-water account and raise wholesale rates starting Oct. 1.

The grant package includes a $1,500,000 alternative-water-supply cost-share (50%) that will fund a reclaimed-water main to connect to a new reservoir tank, and a roughly $700,000 Florida Department of Environmental Protection grant to help customers pay for sewer connection work from the cleanout to the home and for septic abandonment and yard restoration, Utilities Director Jen Bowling said.

Those awards arrived as county staff told Ocoee utilities that Orange County will move the city from an "interruptible without storage" customer class to a higher-priority classification that, according to city staff, requires a groundwater backup supply to qualify for reduced wholesale rates. "The county has indicated that we must have a backup supply to…