Fort Lauderdale opens Prospect Lake water center after $666M infrastructure investment

Fort Lauderdale celebrated the opening of the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center on Thursday, October 15, marking a major step in replacing the city's decades-old drinking water treatment infrastructure. The city puts the project at approximately $666 million, including the related work needed to connect the new facility to its existing system.

The city's project update, dated September 10, said the plant was being commissioned and beginning to send treated water into the network. The changeover continues gradually.

WSVN reported that city officials unveiled the center Thursday morning and described it as a public-private partnership replacing a facility dating to the 1950s. That distinction matters locally: this is the opening of replacement infrastructure serving an existing regional water system, rather than an announcement of a future project.

A June 2025 city commission memorandum describes a plant designed to produce up to 50 million gallons of treated drinking water per day through nanofiltration and ion exchange. It also says the facility was engineered to withstand Category 5 hurricane conditions. These are design specifications for treatment capacity and resilience.

The same memorandum separates the construction economics into two parts. It lists a fixed $485 million cost for the treatment plant, with 75 percent funded by the city and 25 percent by Prospect Lake Water, L.P. It identifies another $181 million in city infrastructure enhancements to integrate the facility with the existing system.

That breakdown explains the approximately $666 million overall figure. It combines the treatment plant and the connecting infrastructure, rather than representing a single construction contract for the plant alone. The memorandum says construction began in September 2023 and describes a subsequent 30-year operating and maintenance period for the project partners.

IDE Technologies identifies its partner as Ridgewood Infrastructure. Its project description lists groundwater from the Biscayne Aquifer as the source and potable water as the intended use. The company describes a combination of treatment technologies intended to improve water clarity and remove color.

The new arrangement changes Fiveash's role. Instead of treating the water, the older site will become a storage and distribution center receiving water from Prospect Lake and sending it through the network. The city says it owns the new center and coordinates distribution while working with the private project company on plant operations.

The regional stakes extend beyond Fort Lauderdale itself. The city's fiscal 2026 budget describes water and sewer service for approximately 250,000 people in central Broward County, including neighboring communities and Port Everglades. It connects the water and sewer rate program to Prospect Lake, automatic metering and other system operating and capital needs.

That budget also allocated $2.9 million for city obligations at the new center, including 18 additional positions and operating and maintenance expenses. The allocation illustrates the staffing commitments accompanying the infrastructure upgrade.

For customers, the next visible milestone is completion of the water-system transition. The city says temporary differences in taste, color or cloudiness may continue through the end of 2026, while water quality remains monitored. Its public project page provides current transition guidance as the new treatment process moves fully into service.