Polk Regional Water Cooperative - Southeast Wellfield & Water Supply Facility

The Polk Regional Water Cooperative’s (PRWC) Southeast Wellfield and Water Supply Facility project is part of a $500,000,000 program involving 14 cities and towns as well as Polk County. The goal of this project is to develop the brackish, Lower Floridan Aquifer (LFA) in Southeast Polk County as a “alternative” water supply. Essentially, the upper Floridian aquifer is being depleted due to over pumping of the groundwater from the highest up zone. This water is easy to treat, readily available, and what the municipalities use for drinking water. Because of its depletion, however, the PRWC needs to drill 4,000 feet down into the lower Floridian aquifer to access the water found there. This water is brackish, so it needs to go through additional treatment via desalination. Desalination removes dissolved substances in groundwater, seawater and municipal wastewaters to make water fit for human consumption, irrigation, industrial and other uses. Desalination is usually accomplished through a process called reverse osmosis, which purifies salt or brackish water by forcing it through semi-permeable membranes, filtering out any impurities.

Chastain-Skillman’s (CS) Water/Wastewater and Land Surveying team will be providing transmission main engineering design of the potable water – so, once the water is treated, our contributions will allow the water to reach the cities who will be benefiting from it. Basically, if you live in Polk County, this includes you! Our survey group will also provide a topographic survey that covers 66 miles of pipeline. This project is estimated to take about 4 years, and is slated to be finished by 2026. Each of the cities that will receive water from this pipeline will contribute funds based on the percentage of the water they will be getting, with about 50% funded by grants from the Southwest Florida Water Management District and other government programs. This is the largest contract CS has ever entered over the course of our 72 years in business.