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Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, County Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deputy director Karen Fligger and Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) director Roy Coley, broke ground, Feb. 8, on an expansion of the South District Wastewater Treatment Plant to increase capacity, future-proof the infrastructure and provide an overall regional solution for the system to meet future demand. The investment of $600 million represents the first substantial capacity expansion for the plant since the 1990s.
Mayor Levine Cava also announced a new industrial water reuse strategy based on the use of Effluent Energy Recovery Systems to provide cooling to buildings and recycling the treated water from the wastewater plant to increase the energy efficiency of the plant. This project will increase the county’s commitment from 15 million gallons per day to more than 100 million gallons per day.
“It has been a priority of my administration to accelerate critical, capital water and sewer infrastructure projects, and I am proud to report that our water professionals took up the baton and delivered on that promise,” Mayor Levine Cava said. “We now have a treatment plant that will benefit the South Dade community for decades to come and will soon become the No. 1 utility in Florida and East Coast, for industrial water reuse.”
These upgrades represent an investment in resilient infrastructure and technologies that allow the Water and Sewer Department to build and operate more efficiently, to not only be good stewards of the environment, but of ratepayers’ investments as well. WASD received nearly $309 million in dedicated Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) low interest loans from the EPA. As a result of this innovative partnership, WASD ratepayers will save approximately $85 million in interest during the life of this loan compared to other financing options.
“Ensuring the financial prosperity of this community requires appropriate infrastructure, including the upgrades being implemented here at the South District Wastewater Treatment Plant,” said County Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins (Dist. 8), whose district includes the treatment plant. “Once these expansion projects are completed, the plant’s permitted treatment capacity will increase by 16 percent — from 112.5 to 131 million gallons per day (MGD) and its wet weather capacity will also expand from 285 MGD to 305 MGD enabling the wastewater treatment plant to operate continuously during storm events, and thereby eliminating or greatly minimizing the risk of potential untreated wastewater discharges to the surrounding environments.”
EPA assistant administrator for water Radhika Fox is pleased with the progress and plans WASD is undertaking in part with the support of WIFIA funding.
“Ensuring clean, safe water services is essential, and that means making sure that water infrastructure is resilient to climate change,” Fox said. “We are proud to partner with Miami-Dade County as they invest in water infrastructure for their communities.”
In the first two years of Mayor Levine Cava’s administration, the Water and Sewer Department has executed more than $1 billion in Capital Improvement Program projects, including a historic investment of more than $550 million for vital WASD projects during fiscal year 2021-22.
“We’ve executed in just one year what some utilities accomplish in 10 to 20 years,” said WASD director Roy Coley. “With these critical projects that future-proof our infrastructure, we are safeguarding the public’s health and positively positioning our county’s economy and environment to thrive today, and decades to come.”
It is the priority of the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department to provide safe, reliable service to its customers. For additional information about department services and programs, visit the WASD website at www.miamidade.gov/global/water/home.page.
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