Clermont pushes reclaimed-water storage, cites consumptive-use limits and existing legislative funds

Public Works staff presented two related water-infrastructure priorities at the City of Clermont council workshop, recommending additional state appropriations to support a North Side alternative water-storage tank and land acquisition for a planned southern-area water plant.

The projects are framed as conservation and reliability efforts tied to the city’s consumptive-use permit. Public Works staff said the North Side project could include “a 3,000,000-gallon storage tank” to supply reclaimed irrigation water to northern subdivisions and to relieve pressure problems at the end of the system.

The city described the North Side tank as serving the Highland Ranch and Summit Greens areas and said it would feed existing purple reclaimed-water piping rather than stormwater systems. Public Works noted the city currently treats wastewater at its plant and can send treated “irrigation” water to remote tanks; staff told the council that the city’s current reclaimed-storage capacity is smaller than planned expansions would require.

Council members and staff discussed costs during the workshop. A slide and oral comments referenced a roughly $6,000,000 total cost to serve about 2,000 homes in the targeted neighborhoods; staff also said the city has previously received legislative appropriations totaling about $1.5 million and that the current paperwork identifies an additional $1 million request aimed at land purchase and initial construction. Council members discussed whether the appropriation request to the state should be larger and noted that the city has two realtors searching for suitable land parcels (staff said roughly 3 acres would be a suitable footprint for a tank site).

Public Works staff explained the projects’ connection to the city’s consumptive-use permit: using more reclaimed irrigation water offsets groundwater withdrawals that count against the permit. As staff summarized, “Our goal is to use 100% of our wastewater and put it back out in the system,” and doing so would reduce how much the city must withdraw from the aquifer for irrigation.

Council members pressed staff for implementation details: how many homes would be served, whether the system would include stormwater retention (staff said it would not), the role of existing ponds and golf-course wells (staff said some subdivisions have private ponds or wells that serve irrigation), and the infrastructure differences between sewer lines (‘‘green’’) and reclaimed irrigation lines (‘‘purple’’). Staff also said Verde Ridge lacks the reclaimed piping infrastructure and would require multi‑million-dollar pipe extensions to connect.

Council members and staff discussed grant and funding options. Staff reported a recently signed $500,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for an alternate-water study covering the broader region, and they said the city has been working with Lake County and engineering firms on an RFQ for that study. Council members asked staff to package one-page summaries of the projects to present to their legislative advocate for review.

Because the meeting was a workshop, council members gave direction and debate but did not vote on any appropriation or ordinance.