- March 10, 2026
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Manatee County has deferred the construction of a $200 million reverse osmosis plant in Palmetto to invest in a $70 million pipeline resiliency project in East County instead.
The pipeline project will add two more wells and a second water transmission line to increase the amount of water that can be delivered to the Lake Manatee Water Treatment Plant.
The plant is capable of filtering 84 million gallons of water per day.
Director of Utilities Patrick Shea said a funding opportunity was the catalyst for the change in plans, which commissioners approved unanimously at the March 3 commission meeting.
Manatee County was awarded a Drinking Water Revolving Loan from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in the amount of $35 million, which will be divided into two parts — $17.5 million in loan forgiveness and $17.5 million in 0% interest financing.
The opportunity arose as part of FDEP’s supplemental appropriations for Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
The remaining $35 million will be paid for using utility funding that was previously allocated to the Buffalo Creek Reverse Osmosis Plant being constructed in Palmetto.
The only commissioner to pose any questions about the change in plans to Shea was Chair Tal Siddique, but his question was more of a clarification.
“So you’re building the capacity in another way, thereby saving us $130 million today,” he asked.
Shea agreed that both projects accomplish the same goal of increasing the county’s potable water supply capacity by at least 5 million gallons per day, and the pipeline project lowers the county's current costs by $130 million.
Additionally, Shea noted that the pipeline project adds a layer of emergency preparedness by eliminating the risk of a single point of failure and improving service continuity during natural disasters.
However, the key word in Siddique's question was "today." The $130 million will have to be worked back into the county's budget at some point in the future because plans for the Buffalo Creek Reverse Osmosis Plant were only deferred, not scrapped.
The new pipeline project will include two additional water production wells and up to 18 miles of a redundant pipeline that will be able to convey water from the East County Wellfield to the Lake Manatee Water Treatment Plant.
When finished, the project will take the current wellfield production from 19 million gallons of water a day to a minimum of 24 million gallons a day and a maximum of 28 million gallons a day.
Currently, a 36-inch transmission line delivers water from the wellfield to the water plant, but there’s no backup when something goes wrong, such as damage from a hurricane.
The addition of a 20-inch pipe will allow work to be done to the 36-inch pipe without entirely cutting off the water supply while repairs are made.
“We’ve had some experiences with past emergencies and past hurricanes,” Shea said. “We’re just making sure we have a reliable amount of water to treat and provide to Manatee County residents during those (emergencies).”
Multiple line breaks during Hurricane Milton caused leaks in the system, which is the most recent example of the need for redundancy.
The wells at the East County Wellfield will go from seven to nine, which is how the supply capacity will be increased.
Because of FDEP requirements for emergency funding grants, the project has to be substantially complete by 2031. Shea estimates the staff will bring a contract for construction back to the board by November, so work can begin soon after.
