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City consultants propose new industrial wastewater surcharges and to drop capital‑recovery charge
Summary
Consultants recommended updating Winter Haven’s industrial pretreatment surcharges: operational BOD/TSS fees rise to reflect 2025 operational costs, new surcharges are proposed for nitrogen, phosphorus, TDS and fats/oils/grease, and staff recommended discontinuing the older capital‑recovery surcharge.
A consultant team told the Winter Haven City Commission that the city’s industrial pretreatment fee structure needs updating to reflect current plant operating costs and to provide incentives for industrial users to reduce pollutant loads.
Jim McClellan, chief engineer with Jones (the consultant team), said the city currently has three significant permitted dischargers—identified in the presentation as New Dairy, FloridaCann and Indian River Transport—and reviewed the surcharge framework that charges for flow, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and total suspended solids (TSS). He described two surcharge components: operational surcharges that reflect electricity, chemicals and sludge disposal costs and a separate capital‑recovery surcharge that dates to grant conditions from the 1980s.
McClellan said updated operational rates (based on 2025 plant operating costs) would move the BOD surcharge from $0.15 per pound to about $0.82 per pound and TSS from $0.03 to $0.09 per pound. The presentation also recommended collecting additional data and adding surcharges for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total dissolved solids (TDS) and fats/oils/grease (FOG) so those costs are accounted for in user bills.
Why it matters: The changes aim to align industrial charges with actual treatment costs so residential ratepayers are not subsidizing higher‑strength industrial waste. Staff also proposed discontinuing the capital‑recovery surcharge and replacing its revenue effect with the new operational components and targeted surcharges.
Monitoring and impacts: McClellan said the city samples industrial dischargers (weekly sampling averaged monthly) and that staff will monitor loads; the consultants estimated that applying the proposed rates to 2024 flows would increase total surcharge revenue by roughly $100,000 across the three dischargers, with specific effects varying by facility. McClellan recommended collecting additional data and updating rates at least every five years (the commission discussed shorter review cycles).
Timing: Staff said any new fees would not take effect before Jan. 1, 2027 to give industries time to plan and for the city to collect further data.
Commission reaction: Commissioners asked whether the changes would be punitive or merely cost‑reflective, whether sampling and permit limits would protect headworks capacity, and whether the fees would provide sufficient incentive for industrial pretreatment. Staff said the recommended approach is intended to reflect actual operational cost and encourage on‑site pretreatment where economical for businesses.
Next steps: The proposal was presented as part of ordinance O‑26‑18; the commission will consider formal ordinance readings and rate updates through the normal ordinance process.
