JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s been decades since Duval County had a new water treatment facility. Now there is a new one operating on the Southside in E-Town.
Duval County is growing and with that growth, each home will need water.
When your wastewater leaves your home, it goes to a facility like the massive new Greenland Water Reclamation Facility. It’s the first new facility in 48 years. It began operation on Feb. 3.
In the summer of 2024, there was a heat wave and a lack of rain left many lawns dying.
JEA alerted residents with a reclaimed water supply that they would experience low water pressure because of the record warmth. Some homeowners were not happy.
With this new facility, it will help keep lawns and golf courses hydrated.
Zasha Del Orbe, JEA Manager of Waste Water Treatment and Reuse explained how the water is cleaned and reused.
“The way this works it’s called biological nutrient renewal. We use microorganisms to consume the volatile matter in the wastewater and it becomes a part of their biomass,” said Del Orbe.
They feed the microorganisms and provide an environment to encourage their growth so that they consume the biomass.
Then the water is clarified and the microorganisms are removed, there is UV disinfection and that ends the life cycle of the microorganisms. The facility combines the water that is produced from Arlington East and Mandarin and then it is sent south to the Nocatee area and Bartram Trail area.
The Greenland facility gets wastewater 24 hours a day. It never stops.
At the end of the process, the water is public access reclaimed water, ready to water your lawns.
Construction began on 80 acres near E-Town in March 2022 and the project cost $148 million.
Starting in March, the facility will produce 3 million gallons a day of reclaimed water. Eventually, it will have the capacity to produce 4 million gallons a day.
A state-of-the-art odor control unit helps minimize odor from the facility.
Some of the benefits of reclaimed water:
- Reduces discharge of treated effluent into the St. Johns River
- Helps offset groundwater withdrawal from the Floridan aquifer
- Contains beneficial nutrients that help our lawns and plants grow