Sanford approves $502,728 repair plan for troubled wastewater plant

Sanford commissioners unanimously approved another $502,728.75 repair package for the North Water Reclamation Facility, a move that adds to the growing bill for a plant that has already drawn complaints about odor and reliability near downtown Sanford.

The project, approved April 27, will reconfigure electrical service at the North Poplar Avenue facility by adding breakers and automated transfer switches so the plant can shift to generator backup during a power loss. City officials said the work is also meant to keep maintenance on one side of the site from interrupting the entire operation and to meet electrical requirements that help the plant run more reliably.

The vote came after a series of other fixes at the same facility. City officials have said the North Water Reclamation Facility appears to be the source of the odor problem that has affected parts of Sanford, and staff have been replacing one odor control unit, repairing the sludge drying system and making process modifications to reduce the smell. The city also said it ordered a custom odor control exhaust fan and used a temporary fan until a permanent replacement component arrived and was installed.

The repair wave shows how much of Sanford’s wastewater system is still being stabilized piece by piece. In March, the city said commissioners would consider a $19 million Florida Department of Environmental Protection loan with 100% loan forgiveness, along with $3.5 million in city funds for clarifying equipment and other wastewater hardening work. A 2024 city resolution also pointed to Florida DEP grant agreement WG101 for Sanford North WRF-BNR/AWT Improvements, Phase II, underscoring that the plant has been on a long upgrade path rather than a single repair cycle.

Sanford Public Works & Utilities serves about 61,000 residents, and the city’s water, wastewater and reclaimed-water service area stretches beyond Sanford into unincorporated Seminole County. That makes the North Water Reclamation Facility more than a downtown nuisance: it is a core piece of the utility system that has to keep running cleanly and continuously. If the new electrical work does what the city expects, it should reduce the risk of outages, treatment interruptions and the kind of odor flare-ups that have already affected daily life around the plant.