Hernando Reporter

Decommission Ceremony for the Spring Hill Water Reclamation Facility 

The Hernando County Government and the Hernando County Utilities Department is hosting a “Valve Closure” Decommission Ceremony for the Spring Hill Water Reclamation Facility on Tuesday, January 31st at 2pm. The significance of the closure of this facility will help reduce the level of nitrates entering the aquifer and lessen the impact on the Weeki Wachee Springs and River. Water will be directed to the Airport Water Reclamation Facility (WRF), which collects more than 2.5 million gallons of wastewater per day.

The Spring Hill WRF was originally opened in 1967 and had expanded over the years. Before reducing flows, this facility was previously taking in over 2 million gallons of wastewater per day and causing higher levels of nitrates to enter the aquifer which in turn negatively affects the Weeki Wachee Springs.

“Shutting the valve and closing this facility is such an accomplishment for Hernando County,” said GordonOnderdonk, Hernando County Utilities Director. “In result, this will reduce the groundwater nitrogen that isnegatively impacting Weeki Wachee Springs by approximately 46,000 lbs per year. Being able to expand theAirport WRF allowed us to move forward with taking the Spring Hill WRF offline. Our Airport WRF was alsoupgraded to meet the advanced wastewater treatment standards, so the water will be treated to a muchhigher level of nitrogen reduction.”

Thank you to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for providing $12.9 million in funding to improve the County’s Airport WRF, the State Representatives and Senators who advocated for this need, and to the Hernando County Utilities Department staff for their hard work over the years and helping with the transition to the Airport WRF. 

Original source can be found here.