Where Our Water Comes From

The City of Apopka’s water is pumped from thirteen ground water wells that pull water from deep in the Floridan Aquifer. Our wells range from 600 to 1,430 feet deep. They each pump water to one of our five water treatment plants:

• The Jack G Grossenbacher Water Plant
• The Sheeler Oaks Water Plant
• The Myrtle Rogers Womble Northwest Water Plant
• The Mt Plymouth Lakes Water Plant
• The Plymouth Regional Water Plant

The Florida Aquifer

Deep beneath the City lies our freshwater reservoir, the Floridan Aquifer. In total, this aquifer underlies about a 100,000 square miles the includes all of Florida and parts of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Our aquifer is in a huge underground zone of limestone and dolomite that act like sponges to absorb, and hold our water. The Floridan aquifer is covered by  sand, rock, and a thick confining layer of clay that protects our water from contamination. This creates excellent water quality that needs very little treatment. The aquifer is replenished through natural recharge from rainwater. The rain water is filtered by the surface sandy layer and then again by the clay layer before it is stored in the limestone. This natural filtration removes harmful surface contaminants and heavy metals, leaving a fresh clean source for us to pull from.

Water Treatment

Once the water has been pumped to the surface, it is then placed through a process called cascade aeration. In this process the water flows over a series of ledges, where it mixes with the oxygen in the air (aeration) and off-gasses any smelly naturally occurring compounds like hydrogen sulfide (the rotten egg smell). We then treat the water with sodium hypochlorite for disinfection, check the pH and pump it out to our customers.