During its Dec. 19 regular meeting, the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners approved phase 2 of the State Road 207 Water Reclamation Facility Project. This included awarding the design-build agreement with Jacobs Project Management Co. for the new S.R. 207 Water Reclamation Facility and Associated Improvements for a total not-to-exceed amount of $191.82 million including a contingency of $6.23 million.
“This project regionalizes availability of reclaimed water, promotes water conservation and strengthens the utility department’s position to protect our future water resource,” said St. Johns County Utility Director Neal Shinkre. “The strength of our financial position allows us to deliver these infrastructure projects with no rate impacts to our customers.”
This project will provide a state-of-the-art advanced wastewater facility that collects and cleanses water to be reused for lawn irrigation. Recycled water is part of the county’s plan to be more sustainable, diversify its water sources and protect the environment. Currently, the county recycles 56% of all wastewater treatment flows for beneficial purposes to replace the use of traditional freshwater supplies.
Senate Bill 64 requires a statewide elimination of non-beneficial surface water discharges of effluent and this project will move the county forward in meeting this goal before the implementation deadline in 2032. The project includes a 13-mile pipeline network maximizing delivery of reclaimed water for residential irrigation and over the next 20 years, helps reduce more than a million pounds of nutrients discharged to the Matanzas River.
On Sept. 6, 2022, the board had authorized the county administrator to execute a design-build agreement with Jacobs Project Management Co. to complete phase 1 of the agreement for a not-to-exceed amount of $30 million and to negotiate a guarantee maximum price (GMP) amendment for presentation to the board for completion of Scope 2.
The project is funded primarily through utility bond proceeds. This will not affect customer rates.
Currently, the project is in Phase 1 with 62% completion and the entire project is scheduled to be completed in May 2026.
