News Flash

The city has broken ground on a new Utility Administration Building – part of a $95 million plan to expand and enhance the city’s public services complex and wastewater treatment plant to meet future demand and reduce the reliance on septic systems in the region.

The city held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday, June 23 at the Public Services complex, 1102 South Amelia Avenue, to kick-off construction of the new Utility Administration Building. The new 24,000-square-foot utilities administration/emergency support and response building (UAB) will be one of many changes to the Public Services Complex. The new building will house the full complement of Utility Department and Engineering Divisions personnel. Both teams have outgrown allocated space in multiple buildings that they occupy. In addition, the UAB will offer educational support rooms for training, emergency support facilities that do not exist to adequately support the 80+ team members that are charged with supporting the needs of the water and sewer infrastructure during activations. 

The improvements to the water reclamation facility project includes; the expansion of the permitted daily treatment capacity of the plant from 6 million gallons per day (MGD) to 8 MGD, the replacement of the current gaseous chlorine disinfection process with the use of ultraviolet disinfection technology, and other improvements that will permit us to meet the new advanced treatment process requirements of St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

City Commissioners also recently approved annexation of almost 5 acres of land to the north of the existing property at 1102 South Amelia Avenue to allow for expansion of the entire complex.

“These projects are the resultant of years of planning, thousands of hours of design and coordination, and will better support and house our Public Service Department Team members that not only serve the City but over 80 square miles of north-central Florida ,” said Public Services Director Chad Gamble. “Our city is not only dedicated to exceeding the environmental goals of the State FDEP and St. Johns River Water Management District but also being purposeful and intentional about attracting and retaining the best and brightest people to serve the greater DeLand area. This re-envisioning of our public services complex will achieve both of these things.”

Built in 1978, the city’s wastewater treatment plant was named in honor of Wiley M. Nash, who served as Utilities/Public Works Director and later as Mayor. In 1990, the facility was upgraded to an advance treatment system to produce reclamation water and reduce the discharge of effluent into the St. Johns River. The plant currently services to 68,000 residential customers within the city and outlying areas of northwestern Volusia County. In total, the utility service area is roughly 80 square miles.

With estimates of an additional 20,000 residents living in DeLand and surrounding areas by 2035, the plant’s capacity would need to increase by an additional 2 million gallons per day. A total of 6.4 million gallons per day is expected to be treated by 2040. 

Additionally, the improvements will allow the city to decrease nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into the Blue Spring Water Basin and maintain the city’s compliance with state regulations on effluent discharge. Once complete, it is projected that the water treatment plant will help reduce total nitrogen flow to Blue Spring by 146,177 pounds per year and total phosphorus by 91,324 pounds per year.

Construction is expected to start later this year with a projected completion date of the summer of 2026.