South Dade: Homestead's Upcoming Water Wars

The Miami-Dade County government has neglected to upgrade the water and sewer systems for years.  Now faced with Federal lawsuits to comply with the Clean Water Act they have to get moving and bring the county-wide system up to minimum standards.   The county is not alone, municipalities like Homestead are also under the gun to fix their systems not just to maintain what they have but also to allow for future growth.  

The City of Homestead has grown significantly since Hurricane Andrew decimated the city in the summer of 1992.  So much so it now requires a Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion. The City of Homestead is unique in that it's the only municipality in Miami-Dade County that owns and operates a wastewater treatment plant. The city currently has a water permit capacity of (6 mgd) million gallons and it's projected that the city will need another (3 mgd) at an estimated cost of $50,000,000.  This is best case scenario so if history is any indication of the true cost of any infrastructure project, it will be double that:  $100M.  

The City leaders are well aware of these circumstances as an excerpt form the City of Homestead FY 2009/2010 Budget states:

“THE CITY OF HOMESTEAD FACES SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL CHALLENGES

The wastewater treatment plant has reached capacity and requires expansion.

The City of Homestead is the only municipality in Miami-Dade County that owns and

operates a wastewater treatment plant. The Wastewater Treatment Plant has reached

capacity as a result of our explosive population growth and will eventually require

expansion. However, new regulatory requirements along with operational improvements may generate an estimated cost of $50 million to upgrade the existing facility.”

  

However,  The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) delivered some bad news to the City by prorating a plan submitted and instead of allowing an expansion, the city lost 25% of its permitted capacity, or (1.5 mgd). This means it will now cost an estimated $75,000,000 to expand the wastewater treatment plant.  Once again we'll use historical trends to perform a cost analysis by doubling estimated cost:  $150M.   It appears leadership is a scarce skill set at City Hall, because this DEP action is unheard of and another unenviable position for a municipality to be in.  Lets go ahead and add Homestead for being uniquely placed on the  "screwed list". The City Council will now have to move fast as follows:

1. Get approval from DEP and perform an urgent expansion of the Wastewater Treatment Plant while meeting the new DEP conditions.  
2. Send notice to residents of the new water/sewer rates.  Warn them that the rates will rise significantly.  
3. Hold a Special Call to have residents air their complaints.  They need someone to vent to so the City Council needs to get ready to hear them out.
4. The city needs to negotiate a wholesale contract with Miami-Dade county.  The City is paying exorbitant retail rates for excess sewer flow.
5. The city needs to enter into a consent decree with DEP so anything they have to fix to achieve compliance is grandfathered under the new permit.  If this is done, the city may keep the original capacity at a fraction of the cost.

The worst part of this scenario is that residents of East Homestead paid for their capacity  impact fees when the houses were purchased. Now all the residents, old and new will be burdened with additional higher water/sewer rates.   Where did the money go?  That's a valid question for the City Council, especially the incumbents that are vying for reelection. 

The City Council and its administration are already privately criticized in professional circles for their incompetence on handling the Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion issue.  This blog is now exposing this problem so the residents can become aware and place pressure on the elected leaders.  The Leaders need to accomplish something productive and avoid the pending Water War that will take place at City Hall if nothing is done soon.  

Miami-Dade commissioners sign off on initial fee hike to pay for water, sewer repairs - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com