About Us
The Wastewater Division is dedicated to providing the highest quality wastewater treatment at the most reasonable cost to its ratepayers. It operates and maintains two regional water reclamation facilities with a total treatment capacity of 40.1 million gallons per day (MGD), two sub-regional wastewater treatment facilities with a total capacity of 2.5 million gallons per day (MGD) and provides wastewater services to over 70,000 service connections.
Wastewater Plant Operations
The Wastewater plants operate 24/7/365 to provide effective wastewater treatment for reliable reuse production to maintain 100% compliance in accordance with all local, state, federal, FAC and USEPA rules and regulations. The plants operate pursuant to the FDEP operating permit conditions with proactive, sustained compliance. The primary means of effluent disposal is returning highly treated reclaimed water to the community (golf courses, residential communities, environmental mitigation areas and roadway medians) for beneficial reuse as irrigation water.
The North County Water Reclamation Facility (NCWRF) provides wastewater treatment in the North County Service Area (north of Golden Gate Parkway) with a permitted capacity of 24.1 million gallons per day (MGD). The plant includes two 1.5 million gallon flow equalization tanks, two pump stations, a blower/electrical building, a diversion structure, and an odor control system to reduce or eliminate objectionable odors emitted during the treatment process. The equalization tank system is designed to optimize treatment plant performance by capturing peak flows during high demand times to prevent over stressing the plant. Once peak demands subside, the captured flow is diverted back into the plant for treatment.
The South County Water Reclamation Facility (SCWRF) provides wastewater treatment in the South County Service Area (south of Golden Gate Parkway to Auto Ranch Road), with a permitted treatment capacity of 16 million gallons per day (MGD). Our treatment process includes two (2) equalization tanks having a capacity of 1.25 MG each, five odor control units to eliminate hydrogen sulfide and other objectional odors throughout the treatment facility. Our biological treatment is a Modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) Nutrient removal facility, followed by a tertiary filtration process, which enables us to provide Irrigation Quality water delivery to medians, golf courses and other areas throughout the Southern region of Collier County. Future plans at the SCWRF includes many enhancements to provide greater reliability and sustainability, along with increased treatment capacity, for our ever-increasing population.
Orange Tree Treatment Plant is a sub-regional facility that provides wastewater treatment to the Northeast area of Collier County (East of Twin Eagles) with a permitted capacity of 1.5 million gallons per day (MGD). It is located on Oil Well Road, just east of Immokalee Road. The treated effluent water is disposed of in three percolation ponds on the treatment site. This facility is undergoing an expansion project to meet the steadily growing community needs of its service area.
The Golden Gate Wastewater Treatment Facility is a sub-regional facility nestled amid the community, treating wastewater for many within the City of Golden Gate. This facility is currently permitted to treat 1.5 million gallons per day (MGD) and disposes of the treated effluent through a deep injection well system. The plant was acquired from the Florida Governmental Utility Authority (FGUA) in March of 2018. Since this acquisition, Collier County has made several improvements to increase reliability and sustainability. As a result of potential growth in Collier County over the next several years, we have been in the planning process of expanding the Golden Gate Facility to approximately 5 million gallons per day, by building a state-of-the-art Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility, with Membrane filtration technology, additional deep injection & potential irrigation water quality system for our community.
Northeast Service Area Interim Wastewater Plant - permitted capacity is 1.5 million gallons per day (MGD)
The plants have won numerous operational excellence awards from the FDEP and FWEA for superior performance.
Wastewater Collections
Management of daily operations of the wastewater collections system, associated preventive maintenance, regulatory compliance and coordination with contractors and project managers for successful completion of ongoing capital improvement projects. It maintains more than:
- 957 pump stations
- 4,752 valves
- 1,648 miles of pipeline
Wastewater Collections won the 2021 Wastewater Collections System of the Year Award for Large Utilities.
Wastewater Power Systems
This section is responsible for overseeing the power and control systems that support wastewater treatment plants, reuse infrastructure, and collection systems, including all electrical, telemetry, SCADA, and instrumentation operations. It ensures system reliability through a proactive preventive maintenance program, continuous regulatory compliance, and the execution of capital improvement projects aimed at enhancing overall system performance. By maintaining critical power and control systems, this section optimizes operational efficiency, supports uninterrupted services, and actively promotes 24/7/365 reliability and sustainability across the wastewater treatment plants, collections, and reuse services and operations.