Winter Springs has broken ground on the new East Water Reclamation Facility, the largest infrastructure project in the city’s history. For residents who followed the water quality debate over the past several years, this is a moment worth understanding in full. That means being honest about how the city got here, and clear about what has changed.
The problems were real
No accurate account of this project can skip the history. Winter Springs’ wastewater system carried serious, long-standing problems. Warnings about the aging plants went back years, and compliance failures went unaddressed. In January 2021, a reclaimed water spill at the east plant caused a fish kill in a retention pond, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection cited 24 possible violations, resulting in fines. State audits in 2023 examined the city’s water and wastewater operations, after which the city committed to replacing both plants.
Residents who raised alarms about drinking water and wastewater infrastructure were right to do so, and the public record bears that out. Acknowledging that history is not a weakness. It is the starting point for accountability.
What changed after 2022
The difference over the last four years has been execution.
The city replaced the vendor that had been running the plants. In September 2025 the Commission voted to bring in Woodard and Curran to operate the wastewater and reclaimed water systems, after Veolia moved to withdraw. The new operator was chosen through a public vetting process led by Utilities Director Clete Saunier.
In March 2026 the Commission gave final approval to build the new East plant at a guaranteed maximum price of $65.8 million, which came in under what the city had budgeted, with a $5.5 million contingency set aside. The construction contractor is Wharton Smith.
The financing was structured to protect ratepayers. The project draws on low-interest State Revolving Fund loans of $5.4 million for design and $54.1 million for construction, plus $19.1 million tied to Hurricane Helene and Milton recovery that carries 50 percent principal forgiveness, along with a separate $600,000 grant.
Groundbreaking is happening now, with substantial completion targeted for October 2028. The West plant is next in line.
These are not talking points. They are steps that moved a stalled project into active construction.
Steady management, not just spending
Commissioner Victoria Bruce made the condition of the city’s wastewater systems a central concern when she ran in 2022, and she was an early and consistent critic of the previous operator’s compliance record. At the September 2025 vote to change operators, she pressed directly on who would be accountable to state regulators for reporting spills, and she flagged contract language that capped the new vendor’s responsibility for repair costs on the city’s aging facilities. Those are the questions residents deserve to have asked on their behalf.
Replacing two treatment plants is one of the most expensive undertakings a city this size can face. Pairing that scale of investment with financing that protects ratepayers, and with a contract that came in under budget, is the balance residents expect.
What comes next
A groundbreaking is a beginning, not a finish line. The real measures now are how well the project is managed, whether the process stays transparent, and whether the city carries the same focus into the West plant and its remaining infrastructure needs. Residents deserve both an accurate account of the past and visible progress in the present. On the wastewater rebuild, that progress is now in the ground.
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