The department operates two utility campuses with four water treatment plants (including one Aquifer Storage and Recovery well) capable of providing up to 15.5 million gallons of potable water per day (MGD).
Palm Bay's water source is groundwater, obtained from forty-two wells throughout the city. These raw water wells provide water to PBUD's two water treatment facilities. The water collected by our wells is drawn from the Floridan Aquifer at a depth of 850 feet and surficial aquifers at a depth ranging from eighty to hundred fifty feet. PBUD treats the raw water from its wells using lime-softening and reverse osmosis. Once treated, the water is chlorinated for disinfection before entering our distribution system and pumped out across the city to reach our customers.
PBUD also operates a wastewater and water reclamation plant; the combined treatment capacity for these two facilities is 5.2 MGD. The utility provides sanitary sewer service to approximately forty-thousand residents (over fifteen-thousand accounts) through one-hundred and five lift stations, two hundred and two miles of sanitary sewer gravity mains, twenty-five hundred manholes, and fifty-eight miles of force main. Additionally, nine miles of reclaimed water distribution lines provide service to several businesses, residents, and a local park for irrigation and beneficial reuse purposes. The department has also completed the design for a new water reclamation plant to meet future beneficial reuse demands throughout the city's southern portion.
