Water and Sewer — Fellsmere, Florida

The City of Fellsmere runs its own water utility from wells in the surficial aquifer, and Indian River County treats the city's sewage at a county plant for a bulk rate.

The county comprehensive plan counts four public regional water treatment plants in Indian River County: two run by the county Utilities Department, one by the City of Vero Beach and a fourth operated by the City of Fellsmere. The same page records that the county has an agreement with the City of Fellsmere to provide emergency water if needed. On the federal side, the EPA drinking water record lists the Fellsmere system as FL3314280, a community water system owned by a local government and supplied by groundwater, with its address at 22 S. Orange St.

Wastewater works differently. The Sanitary Sewer Sub-Element, as updated in 2018, says that at the county's central plant, the county also treats the City of Fellsmere's sewage for a bulk rate. A Fellsmere utility customer therefore deals with the city for both water and sewer billing, while the treatment of sewage happens at an Indian River County Utilities plant.

Not every tap near Fellsmere is on the city system. The franchise table lists the Fellsmere Management Corp. plant at the Fellsmere Trailer Park, which uses aeration and chlorination on surficial aquifer water and has a design capacity of 115,000 gallons per day; the plan says it will stay in service because it serves land outside the county urban service area. Two private Sun-Ag package sewer plants near the City of Fellsmere serve a mobile home park and a packinghouse outside the county service area.

The Fellsmere water system serves a population of 3,208 through 1,283 service connections, according to the EPA record for system FL3314280, and the city maintains six water supply wells.

The county plan's Table 3.B.2 gives the Fellsmere plant a 2006 demand of .29 MGD against a 2006 design capacity of .65 MGD and plans for 3.85 MGD by 2030. The text on page 12 adds that the City of Fellsmere uses the Surficial aquifer only, while the county plants rely on the Upper Floridan aquifer. The plan pairs treatment with source: reverse osmosis for Floridan water at the county and Vero Beach plants, and lime softening for surficial water, the process listed for Fellsmere.

Day to day, the Public Works & Utilities page assigns the Fellsmere Utility Department valves and in-ground water mains, six water supply wells, storage tanks and fire hydrants, and the vulnerability assessment and emergency response reports. The plan figures date from the 2016 supplement of a plan adopted in 2010, and the EPA counts are the record as fetched on October 12, 2026.

Fellsmere sewage goes to Indian River County's regional system, where the county treats it at the central plant for a bulk rate, with the city's flow put at about 71,000 gallons per day in the 2018 county plan.

The 2018 Sanitary Sewer Sub-Element gives the city's average daily sewer flow as about 71,000 gallons per day, with a maximum flow of 100,000 gallons per day. Its Table 3.A.2 shows how the north end of the county shares capacity: the North County plant, with an 850,000 gallon per day design capacity and its flow transferred to the Central plant, carries a proportional allocation of 60% Sebastian, 30% unincorporated Indian River County and 10% Fellsmere. Page 14 of the plan adds that, besides its regional plants, the county also operates the Blue Cypress Lake package treatment facility.

The city keeps the customer side of sewer service. The Fellsmere Utilities page posts a Sewer Best Management Practices sheet in English and Spanish and a combined Application for Water/Wastewater Service, and the state data below show a separate sewer line in the city's books. In fiscal 2024 Fellsmere reported $418,562 in sewer and wastewater utility charges and $711,982 in sewer and wastewater spending, of which $494,781 came from the enterprise fund.

Fellsmere water and sewer accounts run through the city Utilities Department at 772-571-0127, which offers automatic bill payment, online payment and emailed bills.

The Utilities page announces that the City of Fellsmere's Utility Department is accepting enrollments for recurring automatic payments under a Utility Customer Policy and Procedure Agreement, with authorization and cancellation forms posted in English and Spanish. Questions go to 772-571-0127 or customerservicerep@cityoffellsmere.org. The Public Works & Utilities page adds online payment of utility bills and the option to receive bills by email instead of paper, and lists an after-hours emergency number, 772-205-7121. Office hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday, and the page footer gives the city address as 22 S. Orange Street, Fellsmere.

Rates are set by the City of Fellsmere and published as downloadable sheets for 2022-2023, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 on the Utilities page, beside a Revenue Sufficiency Analysis and a Fire Hydrant Charge Study. This page does not repeat the dollar rates because those sheets are PDF files that could not be read for verification; the city's own sheets are the authority. A Late Fee Increase Announcement dated 10.1.2021 also sits on the Public Works page.

The Water Quality Reports page lists a Water Quality Report 2025 for the Fellsmere system, and the city keeps a separate Water Quality Reports - Espanol page. Trash pickup is not part of the water bill conversation: the Utilities page sends sanitation questions to Waste Management at (772) 569-1776. Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Fellsmere website.

In the fiscal year ended September 30, 2024, Fellsmere took in $1,156,727 in water charges and spent $1,256,074 on water utility services, according to state data compiled by the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research.

The figures come from the EDR workbooks of Fellsmere revenues and expenditures by account code. Water charges rose from $1,044,409 in fiscal 2023 to $1,156,727 in fiscal 2024, an increase of $112,318 (1,156,727 minus 1,044,409). Water spending fell from $1,621,914 to $1,256,074 over the same two years, while sewer spending rose from $402,238 to $711,982 and sewer charges went from $385,484 to $418,562.

Two smaller Fellsmere lines sit in the general fund rather than the utility: a water franchise fee of $63,156 and a sewer franchise fee of $22,725 in fiscal 2024. The EDR tables report what was booked; they do not say which projects drove the swings in spending, and the city's revenue sufficiency analysis on the Utilities page is the document that ties rates to costs.

Fellsmere is one of three local governments the county plan names as providers of centralized potable water, alongside Indian River County and the City of Vero Beach, so county utility pages do not cover Fellsmere customers.

The Potable Water Sub-Element states that Indian River County, the City of Fellsmere and the City of Vero Beach are the local governments responsible for centralized potable water in the county. On page 11 the plan lists county water service to the unincorporated area, the City of Sebastian, the Town of Orchid and the northern portion of Indian River Shores, and that county utility's rates, deposits and service map belong on the Indian River County water and sewer page rather than here. For Fellsmere the county's role is the bulk sewer treatment described above and the standby emergency water agreement.

Looking further west, the county plan treats surface water as a possible future source. It describes the proposed 10,000-acre Fellsmere Water Management Area as a potential significant additional source of fresh surface water, alongside the C-25 canal basin and the Upper St. Johns basin, while noting that the St. Johns River Water Management District would have to agree that such withdrawals can be permitted. No Fellsmere water today comes from that source; the city system draws on the surficial aquifer.