The Springs Restoration Grant Program<\/a> received $50 million for 23 projects aimed at improving water quality and spring flow. State officials said those projects will reduce Total Nitrogen by more than 55,000 pounds per year through wastewater upgrades and other enhancements.<\/p>\n\u201cYear after year, Governor DeSantis has demonstrated a firm commitment to protecting Florida\u2019s waters,\u201d Florida Department of Environmental Protection Sec. Alexis A. Lambert said. \u201cWe will continue to work cooperatively with local communities to secure the sustainable clean water supply that is critical for Florida\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Awards included $3 million to Citrus County for a septic-to-sewer conversion and upgrade project, $3 million to Suwannee River Water Management District for the Suwannee Sandhill Tract-Drew Property land acquisition, $3 million to the City of DeLand for a regional pump station and sewer extension project and $4 million to Volusia County for a septic upgrade incentive project. Since 2019, Florida has invested $480 million in springs restoration projects, with an estimated annual reduction of about 900,000 pounds of Total Nitrogen per year.<\/p>\n
Another $50 million went to 22 projects aimed at reducing Florida\u2019s reliance on traditional freshwater sources by expanding alternative water supplies. State officials said those projects will help produce more than 60 million gallons of water per day.<\/p>\n
Selected projects included $12.6 million to seven communities in Polk County to expand supplies with brackish water, $10 million to Tampa Bay Water to expand surface water treatment capacity by 12.5 million gallons per day and $19.1 million for six reclaimed water projects that included reuse expansion at the City of Fort Myers\u2019 Central Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility and transmission expansion in the City of Apopka. Since the Alternative Water Supply Grant Program began in 2019, the legislature has appropriated $385 million, and officials said committed funds will result in more than 400 million gallons of water per day when projects are fully online.<\/p>\n
A full list of Water Quality and Supply Grant projects selected for Fiscal Year 2026-27 is available here<\/a>. The state said the awards will support projects meant to protect springs, expand alternative water sources and promote water conservation across Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. (WINK)\u2014Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded $100 million across 45 projects to protect and restore Florida\u2019s water…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,28,897,172021,412],"class_list":["post-440742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-florida","tag-fort-myers","tag-fort-myers-central-advanced-wastewater-treatment-facility","tag-ron-desantis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440742","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=440742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}