Water Service in Fort Lauderdale — Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The City of Fort Lauderdale Utility Services Division provides potable water and wastewater service to approximately 176,000 residents, an estimated 300,000 daily visitors, and six neighboring municipalities across a 38-square-mile service area. Fort Lauderdale is the county seat and largest of Broward County's 31 municipalities, and its water utility operates at a scale commensurate with that regional role.

The distribution and collection network encompasses more than 1,400 miles of potable water mains, sanitary sewer force mains, and sanitary sewer gravity lines, as documented by the City's Distribution and Collection division. Two anchor facilities have defined the system for decades: the Fiveash Regional Water Treatment Plant, which has supplied potable water, and the George T. Lohmeyer (GTL) Wastewater Treatment Plant, which processes the city's sewage. Both facilities have aged significantly, and the city is in the midst of replacing the Fiveash plant with the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center — a $666 million project representing the largest capital investment in Fort Lauderdale's utility history.

The Utility Services Division operates within the City's commission-manager government structure. The City Commission has played a direct role in utility capital decisions, including the unanimous approval of $65 million for a redundant sewer force main and the March 2022 selection of the IDE-Ridgewood team for the Prospect Lake facility.

Fort Lauderdale's water system is anchored by the Fiveash Regional Water Treatment Plant, which has served as the primary potable water facility for decades. A 2019 study by Carollo Engineers, cited by the American Society of Civil Engineers, formally recommended replacement of the Fiveash plant, concluding that rehabilitation was not cost-effective given the facility's age and condition. The plant's replacement — the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center — is detailed in a separate section below.

The wastewater system is anchored by the George T. Lohmeyer (GTL) Wastewater Treatment Plant, which processes an average of 36.3 million gallons per day (MGD), according to the City's Distribution and Collection page. The GTL plant also serves neighboring municipalities under Large User Agreements, reflecting Fort Lauderdale's role as a regional wastewater hub.

A completed capital project reinforced the GTL plant's reliability: a $65 million redundant sewer force main, approved unanimously by the City Commission and subsequently constructed as a 7-mile, 48-inch pipe extending from the Coral Ridge Country Club Wastewater Lift Station to the GTL plant. The City of Fort Lauderdale documented completion of that project as a major infrastructure milestone.

Separately, approximately 23,370 feet of large sewer pipelines from Sunrise Boulevard to the GTL plant are undergoing rehabilitation and replacement across multiple neighborhoods, including Harbordale, Rio Vista, Beverly Heights, Victoria Park, and the Sunrise Intracoastal area, as documented by the City's infrastructure pages.

The Prospect Lake Clean Water Center is the defining infrastructure project in Fort Lauderdale's water system for the current era. In March 2022, the City Commission selected the IDE-Ridgewood team — comprising IDE Technologies and Ridgewood Infrastructure — to design, build, operate, and maintain the new facility under a public-private partnership (P3) agreement, as reported by Florida Construction News. Kiewit Water Facilities Florida Co. serves as the design-build contractor.

The total project cost is estimated at approximately $666 million, including enabling works. To finance construction, the City issued a $543 million bond, as documented by Florida Construction News. The project was named Best Private-Public Partnership (P3) Utility Project of the Year, per a City of Fort Lauderdale news release.

When completed, the facility will produce 50 million gallons of treated water per day, using nanofiltration membranes and ion-exchange technology, as documented by IDE Technologies and confirmed by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The plant is designed to withstand winds from a Category 5 hurricane, per IDE Technologies' project documentation. Expected completion is late 2026, per City news releases.

Connecting the new facility to the existing distribution system requires 17,600 feet of new 48-inch-diameter water main routed through Tamarac and Oakland Park, using both open-cut and trenchless technology, as documented by the City of Tamarac's official website. Installation of water mains in areas such as near Lofts of Palm Aire Village was ongoing as of mid-2025.

Beginning in 2024, the City of Fort Lauderdale conducted a citywide water infrastructure inventory, including records review and field inspections to identify the material composition of service lines — particularly lead lines — as required under federal regulations. Inspectors marked streets, sidewalks, and meter boxes during fieldwork, with mapping completion targeted for December 2024. As of the City's published update on service line materials, only a handful of lead service lines had been identified across the system.

A sewer pipeline rehabilitation project in Harbordale and surrounding neighborhoods — covering approximately 23,370 feet of pipeline from Sunrise Boulevard to the GTL plant — entered Phase 1 construction between June and August 2025, performed by Lanzo Construction Co. using cured-in-place pipe lining techniques, as documented in a City news release. Neighborhoods affected include Rio Vista, Beverly Heights, Victoria Park, and the Sunrise Intracoastal area.

Effective March 1, 2026, the City changed its utility account policy: only property owners — not tenants — may establish new utility billing accounts, a requirement announced on the City's Utility Billing page. Separately, as of October 1, 2025, updated utility rates took effect as part of a series of incremental increases approved by the City Commission beginning in fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023) to fund Prospect Lake Clean Water Center construction, per the City's new utility rates page.

Water and wastewater rates in Fort Lauderdale are set by the City Commission. Beginning in fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023), the Commission approved a series of incremental rate increases specifically to fund construction of the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center, as explained on the City's rate increase information page. The most recent rate schedule took effect October 1, 2025; the City's new utility rates page provides a comparison of Fort Lauderdale's rates against those of neighboring municipalities.

Billing is administered by the Utility Billing and Collections Office, located at 700 N.W. 19th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311. The office operates Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., per the City's official utility billing page. As of May 1, 2024, credit and debit card payments to the city incur a merchant transaction fee ranging from 1.95% to 2.95%, per the City's billing notice. Effective March 1, 2026, only property owners may open new utility accounts; tenants in rental units are no longer eligible to establish service in their own name under the revised policy.

The City of Fort Lauderdale publishes an annual Water Quality Report, also known as the Consumer Confidence Report, as required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The 2024 edition is available through the City's Annual Water Quality Report page and documents the source water, treatment processes applied, and testing results for regulated contaminants.

Under federal lead and copper rules, the City undertook a comprehensive service line material inventory beginning in 2024. The effort combined records review with physical field inspections; crews marked streets, sidewalks, and meter boxes to facilitate identification and mapping of line materials, targeting completion of the mapping phase by December 2024, as documented in the City's infrastructure inventory announcement. A follow-up City news release on service line materials reported that, as of its publication in 2024, only a small number of lead service lines had been identified across the system. The transition to the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center, with its nanofiltration and ion-exchange treatment technology, is expected to further support water quality outcomes once the facility comes online.

Fort Lauderdale's water utility extends its reach well beyond city limits. The Utility Services Division provides wastewater treatment to six neighboring municipalities under Large User Agreements, with the George T. Lohmeyer plant serving as the regional treatment hub for that contracted capacity. The Prospect Lake Clean Water Center transmission infrastructure further illustrates the cross-jurisdictional scale of the system: 17,600 feet of new 48-inch-diameter water main runs through the neighboring cities of Tamarac and Oakland Park before connecting to Fort Lauderdale's distribution network, as documented by the City of Tamarac.

Fort Lauderdale is the county seat of Broward County, Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade. It sits approximately 25 miles north of Miami and is one of the ten largest cities in Florida, according to the City's official website. The city's 38-square-mile water service area, its canal-laced geography, and its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean collectively shape the infrastructure demands and engineering choices — including the Category 5 hurricane design standard for the new Prospect Lake facility — that distinguish Fort Lauderdale's water system within the South Florida region.