The orange barrels and “road closed” signs on Lotus Avenue near Ariana Street mark the start of the biggest project Lakeland’s Water Utilities department has undertaken.
Over the next 20 months, it will replace one of the largest networks carrying its sewage — the 2.6-mile Western Trunk Line, which runs under several neighborhoods and more than a quarter mile of Harden Boulevard.
The project will cost an estimated $77.7 million, more than quadruple the $17.8 million Lakeland spent to build the Northeast Water Treatment Facility on Old Combee Road in 2003.
With contingencies and technical compliance services, the budget swells to $93.3 million.
Why it matters: The Western Trunk Line is a gravity sewer that carries about 3.5 million gallons of wastewater a day, although that volume can swell to almost 20 million gallons after major rains.
It was built in the 1950s as a 36-inch, non-reinforced concrete pipeline. Since then, Lakeland has grown and the sewer line has contracted.
It was fitted in the 1980s with a slip liner that made it closer to 30 inches in diameter. Now that liner is failing, leading to leaks and costly repairs.
Herculean: The new sewer line will be 42 inches in diameter.
Water Utilities charted a new path for it that avoids digging under the Oakhill, Colonial and Citrus Center Colony mobile home parks.
Workers still will have to dig trenches from 7 to 25 feet deep and install 43 manholes and about 12,800 linear feet of sewer main at precise downward angles so gravity can carry the waste.
Water Utilities Engineering Manager Robby Kniss said it is a generational project that should last for the next 100 years.
What is that strange white pipe? Area residents might have noticed a long white pipe running for about a quarter of a mile along Lotus Avenue between Belmar and Forest Park Streets.
The pipe, which is much narrower than a sewer line, has short hoses every 6 feet or so connected to spouts rising from the ground.
Kniss explained that it’s a “dewatering” system because the water table in Lakeland is high. If you dig down 2 to 4 feet, there’s a good chance you’ll start seeing water in your hole.
To dry out the dirt, Kniss said work crews install the pipes and hook them up to a large pump for about a week to pull groundwater out of the soil.
Timeline: The preparation work began May 12.
Kniss said he expects to have the new line in service by December 2026, barring any major setbacks or surprises.
One of the variables is buying easements from property owners along the new route.
Kniss said there are five parcels that are critical to the first phase of the project. If the owners respond to purchase offers, it will be faster than if the city has to use its power of eminent domain.
“Three to five offers have been mailed out and put in people’s hands, and we’ve started talking to them,” he said. “One of them has reached a conceptual agreement.”
Financing: About $14.3 million of the project is being financed with American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The City Commission unanimously approved a resolution on Monday that allows the Water Utilities department to seek up to $79 million from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s State Revolving Fund program.
The city can only borrow $20 million a year, which must be approved by a committee. Kniss said there is a quarterly hearing where applications are scored.
“We’ll find out in early August if we make that priority list,” he said.
If the proposal isn’t approved, Kniss said there are other ways to fund the project.
Cindy Glover is a reporter for LkldNow, a nonprofit newsroom providing independent local news for Lakeland. Read at LkldNow.com.
