Orange City adopts water, wastewater and reclaimed-water master plans; consultant recommends hybrid treatment to tackle ‘forever chemicals’

Orange City Council on May 26 adopted three resolutions to advance water and wastewater infrastructure planning, approving a facility plan for the Southwater treatment plant and master plans for wastewater/septic-to-sewer and reclaimed-water expansion.

Utility Services Director Robert Lawler and consultant John Keane of Plar and Associates presented the facility plan for the Southwater treatment plant, which supplies roughly 60–70 percent of the city’s drinking water. Keane said the plant’s wells have historically shown elevated iron and disinfection byproduct concerns and that recent testing identified PFAS compounds (recorded in the meeting as “POS/POA”). The city secured a $3.5 million state planning and design grant and is pursuing State Revolving Fund (SRF) construction funding and other grant opportunities to reduce ratepayer impacts.

Keane summarized a pilot program that evaluated granular activated carbon (GAC), fixed-bed ion exchange and a hybrid approach. He said the hybrid—pressure filtration and ion exchange with targeted GAC polishing—offers the best balance of operational cost and regulatory compliance over a 20-year horizon. “We confirmed that GAC and ion exchange are great technologies for reducing POS in the city's groundwater,” Keane said. He estimated capital costs across alternatives in the range of roughly $27.5 million to $28 million and described an implementation schedule that targets design submittal to the SRF by June 2027 and an 18‑month construction window after funding and bidding.

Council also adopted Resolution 433-26, the 2026 wastewater master plan and septic-to-sewer phase-out update prepared by Jones Edmunds & Associates, which sets a framework to meet nutrient-reduction goals under the Basin Management Action Plan; Lawler said Orange City is assigned a target reduction of 16,351 pounds per year of total nitrogen by 2038 and the plan prioritizes connections that yield the greatest nitrogen reduction value.

Resolution 434-26, adopting the 2026 reclaimed-water master plan, passed as well; the plan recommends looping and pressure improvements, potential storage tanks and expansion to serve irrigation customers so that reclaimed water displaces potable water for irrigation demand.

During public comment, Joan Cornetta of John Knox Village told council the iron content in her water is “outrageous” and asked what the plan will do to reduce iron appearing in household water. Lawler and Keane confirmed that iron removal (oxidation and pressure filtration) is included as a front-end treatment step across the recommended alternatives and that staff will follow up on individual water-quality complaints.

The council voted unanimously on each resolution (recorded roll-call yes votes by Council members Knight, Darmms, Stafford and Vice Mayor Grim). The city will continue design work with Plar and pursue SRF and other grants to reduce costs borne by ratepayers.