Water For Life

The City of Fort Lauderdale Purchased the facilities and land of the Twin Lakes Heights Water Company in 1954. The Fiveash Plant was constructed in 1954 and has been expanded four time in the last 40 years.

The plant covers a full 1,000,000 square feet and sits on an 11.5 acre parcel of land near I-95 and Prospect Road. It has 25 wells, located in the Prospect Wellfield, just west of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

At the heart of the operation is a computer nerve center which provides plant operators status updates and assists with control of the major plant equipment.

The plant draws ground water from the Biscayne Aquifer. It treats the water through aeration, chemical processing and filtering. Then, via a vast underground piping system, the plant delivers clean, potable water to our customers.

Thirteen high service pumps deliver the water into the distribution system. Six high service pumps , driven by diesel engines, provide power in case of electrical service failure.

WELL PUMP

AERATION BASIN

TREATMENT UNIT

CHEMICAL CONTACT BASIN

Ground Water from the Biscayne Aquifer is pumped from the Prospect Wellfield to the Fiveash Water Treatment Plant.

The first Process toward clean water is aeration. Aeration, forcing air through the ground water, helps remove odor, iron, magnesium, and carbon dioxide.

This is the heart of the plant process. It is here where lime and chemical coagulants draw the suspended particles together to form larger particles which settle to the bottom and are removed as sludge.

Fluoride and disinfectants are added at this stage. Fluoride is for strong teeth and the disinfectants prevent bacteria from developing.

FILTERS

STORAGE TANKS

HIGH SERVICE PUMPS

This is the final cleaning process. The remaining suspended particles are removed in one of the 22 dual media filters. Each filter contains 16 inches of anthracite coal, 12 inches of sand, and 8 inches of support gravel. Each filter can clean 4.63 MGD. Periodically, filters are cleaned by pumping water backwards through them and disposing of the solids.

Filtered water flows into three storage tanks which have a combined capacity of 14 MG. Future expansion may require the plant to provide an additional 5 MG of storage.

The plant can supply 75 MGD of water to consumers. 6 diesel powered pumps and 2 generators provide emergency power when normal electrical service is interrupted.