{"id":171385,"date":"2026-02-27T12:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/171385\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T12:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:21:11","slug":"altamonte-will-no-longer-heed-apopka-water-requests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/171385\/","title":{"rendered":"Altamonte\u00a0will\u00a0no longer heed Apopka water requests\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Altamonte Springs\u2019 city attorney said the\u00a0city of Apopka\u00a0has repeatedly cut off or reduced reclaimed water flows, violating the terms of both cities\u2019 50-year agreement that was executed in June 2013.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a Jan. 27 certified letter\u00a0to the city of Apopka\u00a0\u2014 reviewed by The Apopka Chief \u2014\u00a0Altamonte Springs city attorney Mary L. Sneed wrote that\u00a0both cities entered into the agreement to\u00a0help Apopka meet future water demands while reducing its reliance on groundwater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the \u201cAgreement for the Delivery of Reclaimed Water,\u201d\u00a0which\u00a0Sneed attached to the\u00a0letter,\u00a0Apopka\u00a0is required to\u00a0\u201croutinely receive and accept up to\u00a04.5 million gallons\u00a0per day (MGD)\u201d of reclaimed water from the Altamonte Springs Regional Water Reclamation Facility (ASRWRF).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the clear and unambiguous language of the Agreement, Apopka has continued a troubling trend of requesting that Altamonte reduce flow and\/or closing of the valve dating back to October of 2018,\u201d Sneed wrote. \u201cThe agreement does not authorize Apopka to unilaterally curtail, limit, or direct reductions or suspensions in the delivery of reclaimed water.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apopka\u2019s\u00a0\u201carbitrary\u00a0reductions\u201d\u00a0force Altamonte to scramble to reallocate\u00a0the\u00a0water, creating \u201csignificant operational, environmental and financial impacts,\u201d\u00a0according to Sneed.\u00a0Altamonte received the last directive from Apopka to reduce flow\u00a0in December\u00a02025, according to the letter.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ASRWRF is not an isolated \u2018on\/off\u2019 valve that Apopka can direct to be turned on and off without consequences\u00a0not only to Altamonte but also to other agencies that indirectly rely on Apopka\u2019s performance and could also be impacted by its failures,\u201d Sneed\u00a0wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The correspondence noted\u00a0that sudden flow reductions are particularly difficult to manage during \u201cwet weather\u00a0conditions.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[Altamonte Springs]\u00a0\u201cwill not continue to heed Apopka\u2019s reduction or stoppage requests or Apopka\u2019s continued failure to fulfill its obligations to its partner under the Agreement,\u201d\u00a0Sneed wrote.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Altamonte\u00a0requested\u00a0that Apopka provide a written operational plan\u00a0within\u00a010 days\u00a0outlining how the city intends to meet its contractual obligation to accept up to\u00a04.5 million gallons\u00a0of reclaimed water per day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a formal response dated Feb.\u00a010, Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson<\/a> expressed surprise at the legal escalation, noting that neither his office nor the\u00a0city\u00a0administrator had been contacted\u00a0regarding\u00a0the issue prior to the certified letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am surprised about is the issue being raised in your letter,\u201d Nelson wrote, adding that communications at the operations level had previously been viewed as helpful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nelson\u00a0included emails showing the December 2025 exchange started with an Altamonte request to increase the flow of water for 24 hours. About 30 hours later, Apopka asked if the flow was going to return to the\u00a0previous\u00a0level, Nelson said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nelson disputed\u00a0Altamonte\u2019s claims\u00a0that Apopka has\u00a0\u201ccut off\u201d the flow at any time\u00a0since 2018, except for rare instances of required system maintenance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the contrary, there are many days\u00a0where\u00a0Altamonte does not send any, or very little, reclaimed water to Apopka, which then requires us to supplement our system with additional pumping from our wells to meet demand,\u201d Nelson\u00a0wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nelson\u00a0said\u00a0he is willing to meet with Altamonte officials to \u201censure both operations are on the same page\u201d moving forward.\u00a0As of Wednesday, he said Altamonte had not replied to his offer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Teresa Sargeant has been with The Apopka Chief for over 10 years.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Altamonte Springs\u2019 city attorney said the\u00a0city of Apopka\u00a0has repeatedly cut off or reduced reclaimed water flows, violating the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-171385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}