The Villages to use Leesburg’s wastewater treatment plant
LEESBURG – The Villages, long seen as a money pipeline to neighboring communities, will soon be using its affluence to pipe its effluence to Leesburg's wastewater treatment plant for a payment of up to $750,000 per year.
City Commissioners, who approved the deal last month, believe the deal is a win-win. It's certainly not a stinker. Leesburg is using only 25 percent of its capacity at its plant at County Road 470 and Florida's Turnpike, which can handle 4.5 million gallons per day. The Villages, which continues to sprout rooftops for retirees, needs a place to dump its waste.
The Villages could build as many as 20,000 new homes on 4,500 acres south of State Road 44 and east of U.S. 301 on both sides of Florida's Turnpike.
Wastewater treatment produces two byproducts, said D.C. Maudlin, the city's public works director. Wastewater is treated to the point it can be used for irrigation. Once treated, the water is held in a storage tank until it can be piped to the Arlington Ridge golf course.
Solids are watered down, treated with microbes and spread over about 300 acres that the city owns in the same area.