Overall, the state of the water running from Plant City faucets is “good quality, safe drinking water.”
That’s the bottom-of-the-well conclusion by Mark Woodward, Plant City’s water conservation coordinator and the city’s annual water quality report.
April 4, the 26th Annual Drinking Water Quality Report was released by the City of Plant City Utilities Department. The 2023 water quality report concluded the city’s drinking water “meets all state and federal standards and Federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requirements for Consumer Confidence Reports.”
According to the report, in 2023, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) performed a Source Water Assessment to city’s drinking water system. That study was done to locate any potential sources of contamination in the vicinity of Plant City wells.
“There are eight unique potential contaminant sources identified for our system. All rated as low,” the report stated.
Plant City’s water source is groundwater pumped from the Floridan Aquifer, an underground layer of water-bearing material. This aquifer is one of the most productive aquifers in the world, covering approximately 100,000 square miles of the southeastern United States including all of Florida and parts of Georgia.
Plant City water is taken from four deep wells located within City limits which are from 746 to 1,200 feet.
According the Quality Report, in 2023, an average of 7.66 million gallons of water was produced for Plant City customers each day, as Plant City is inter-connected with the City of Lakeland’s water supply, also pumped from the Floridan Aquifer.
According to the study, in 2023, an average of 20,370 gallons of water per day of the total supply came from Lakeland.
Woodward, who’s worked for the city as water conservation coordinator for 20 years, said the study showed the health of the municipality’s water meets or exceeds standards every year. The system is steadily dependable, he said, but the City is building a new water treatment plant. It should be completed in early 2025 and is being built at State Road 39 north, known as Paul Buchman Highway, north of Interstate 4.
Woodward said the study was “pretty much the same” as 2022’s study as far as sampling by the city’s utilities operations staff who send samples to laboratories to be analyzed.
Woodward said the annual study helps the city determine and helps city staff know how Plant City is doing as far as maintaining and improving water quality.
“Plus, it’s required. All utilities have to submit a water-quality report and there are certain timelines for that submittal,” he said.
Monitoring of Plant City’s water is done by the Utilities Operations Division, which maintains four water production plants 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Highly trained and licensed professionals “collect and test samples throughout the water distribution system on a daily basis in accordance with State and Federal laws and regulations,” according to the study.
Plant City’s water is chlorinated for disinfection purposes, polyphosphate is added to keep naturally occurring iron from settling in the water system and to “reduce lead and copper corrosion in the plumbing system.” Also, hydrofluosilicic acid is added for dental health purposes.