Palmetto will seek $4.4M loan for wastewater plant improvements

City officials gave the go-ahead Monday for the Palmetto Public Works Department to apply for a $4.4 million low-interest loan through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to improve the city water system.

The city recently installed a $4.2 million aquifer recovery and storage well, with the Southwest Florida Water Management District paying for half.

The ARS well uses ultraviolet technology to kill bacteria and stores 2.4 million gallons of reclaimed wastewater the city uses toward its expanded reuse water

system for resident irrigation use.

Public Works Director Allen Tusing said he hopes construction will begin by mid-2016 for a 2 million-gallon equalization basin to essentially eliminate the peaks and lows of operating a wastewater plant.

"That's the primary function," Tusing said.

Daily flow varies

"For example, in the morning around 7 a.m., our flows go from almost nothing to 1.7 million gallons. All day, it goes up and down from 1.2 to 1.7 million until dinner, and then it tapers off until around 10:30 p.m., where it declines to about 100,000. Then at night, it barely has enough water to operate, but we still have to operate the plant 24 hours."