The Southeast Lower Floridan Aquifer (SELFA)
Wellfield and Water Production Facility Project
This important project involves comprehensive planning, engineering, and construction to build an alternative potable water supply facility that will deliver high-quality, great-tasting drinking water to the Polk County region. Once Phase I is complete, it will supply up to 7.5 million gallons of drinking water each day (MGD). This water will then be transported through a new 63-mile underground transmission pipeline to your local water utility, providing safe, clean drinking water to communities throughout Polk County. The facility will be expanded in the future to produce up to 12.5 MGD.
How it Works
The new Southeast Wellfield and Water Production Facility will draw brackish water from a deep underground source in Southeast Polk County, the Lower Floridan Aquifer. The water will then be treated and purified using reverse osmosis, a process that pushes slightly salty water through specialized filters. These filters allow clean water to pass while blocking substances such as salt, minerals, and heavy metals. This technology is already widely used in Florida to convert brackish water into fresh, safe drinking water.
Project Highlights
- Drilling and testing wells to see how much water they can produce
- Checking the quality of the water and how much is available
- Running small pilot tests to make sure the treatment process is effective
- Building wells and pipelines to bring water from underground
- Constructing and commissioning a treatment facility to clean the water
- Installing injection wells to safely return leftover water underground
- Building transmission lines to deliver clean water to local water utilities
Project Progress
Testing of the Lower Floridan Aquifer was completed in 2019, showing it can reliably supply up to 12.5 million gallons of water per day. The project consists of two main parts: a new water treatment plant and a 63-mile pipeline to deliver water to utilities across Polk County. The design for both the treatment facility and the transmission pipeline was completed in 2024, and construction is now in progress. The Southeast Water Production Facility is expected to begin delivering clean drinking water in late 2028.
After project completion, the Southeast Water Production Facility will produce up to 7.5 million gallons of clean water daily
