Prospect Lake Clean Water Center on track for 2026 start; PFAS testing and pilots underway

Prospect Lake Clean Water Center project representatives updated the Fort Lauderdale City Commission on June 3, reporting major construction milestones complete and pilots starting this summer to measure treatment performance for contaminants including PFAS.

Mark Janae, representing the Prospect Lake project team, said the 50-million-gallon-per-day plant design (approximately 70% nanofiltration, 30% ion exchange) remains on schedule for commercial operation in September 2026. He said excavation and backfill, underground piping and electrical conduit installations are complete; injection-well drilling is underway (1800 of 3500 feet drilled in the final well at the time of the update).

Technical pilots and testing: Project manager Joey (Joey Pedrone) reported bench-scale testing at Virginia Tech was complete and that pipe-loop modules would arrive in June to test distribution effects in a city warehouse; a PFAS pilot skid was expected to be installed by August with preliminary results to follow and a fuller preliminary report by January. Pedrone told commissioners the technology in the plant removes PFOS and the project team is using 4 parts per trillion as a target for two primary PFAS constituents the EPA continues to regulate, noting some federal rule timelines (compliance deadlines) may change.

Resiliency and goals: The plant will be built to resist Category 5 hurricane conditions, supply a new source to address color issues and train city staff to operate the facility under an IDE operations partnership. Procurement and contracting history noted the project began with an unsolicited proposal accepted in 2021, followed by contract awards in February 2023.