Polk commissioners OK aging Poinciana sewer plant’s expansion

Utility: improvements will end odor complaints

BARTOW – County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the expansion of a sewer plant in Poinciana that has been the object of recent odor complaints.

The proposal by the Tohopekaliga Water Authority was to expand the capacity of the plant located near the intersection of Hemlock Avenue and Lake Marion Creek Drive from 1.5 million gallons a day (mgd) to 3 mgd. Long-term plans call for an expansion to 6 mgd.

Brian Wheeler, the authority's executive director, said the plant was built in the late 1970s or early 1980s and needs to be upgraded as well as expanded.

He said many of the current buildings will be demolished and replaced with more modern buildings located in the middle of the site.

Wheeler said the recent odor complaints are the first they've received since taking over the plant in 2008.

He said some of the problems have been traced to a lift station that is part of the sewer collection system, adding the odor problems there have been addressed and the new facilities will be even less prone to cause odor problems.