Interoffice Memorandum
DATE: October 21, 2026
TO: Mayor Jerry L. Demings and County Commissioners
THROUGH: N/A
FROM: Marc Cannata, P.E., Director, Utilities
CONTACT: Mark Ikeler, P.E., Manager, Water Reclamation Division
PHONE: 407-254-9705
DIVISION: Water Reclamation Division
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Ratification of Consent Order OGC File No. 26-0465 between State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Orange County Utilities. (Water Reclamation Division)
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PROJECT: N/A
PURPOSE: Under Chapter 403, Florida Statutes, and Title 62, Florida Administrative Code, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has jurisdiction over operation of the County’s water reclamation system. Pursuant to that authority, FDEP initiated a Consent Order with Orange County Utilities (OCU) related to their inspection at the South Water Reclamation Facility (SWRF) which occurred on December 12, 2025. This Consent Order was due to permit exceedances related to Fecal Coliforms, Total Chlorine Residual, and Total Suspended Solids at SWRF.
FDEP is requiring six months of compliance with permit requirements or OCU must initiate an engineering evaluation to discover the cause or causes of the exceedances. As a proactive measure, OCU has decided not to wait for the six-month period to expire and has retained both an engineering and operations consultant to assist in identifying the source(s) of the exceedances. In addition, OCU operations personnel employed corrective measures related to training, sampling points, process flushing/diversion, and sampling protocols, as well, to help prevent future violations.
Consent orders are a standard and common regulatory compliance tool utilized by the State of Florida which are issued to utilities to correct violations or occasional permit exceedances detected during site inspections at regulated facilities. Generally, these exceedances are attributable to mechanical malfunction or operator error. Although the primary goal and expectation is to always maintain full compliance with all regulatory requirements, occasionally malfunctioning equipment or improper actions undertaken by our operators can result in an exceedance. Overall, however, our facilities are reliable and comply with all permit conditions.
For this Consent Order, FDEP required us to return a signed copy within 20 days, and they would not change this stipulation of the agreement. This precluded us from bringing it to the Board within the allotted time frame as mandated by FDEP. In this case, they sent the Consent Order directly to Mark Ikeler, Utilities Division Manager for Water Reclamation. Upon inquiring with FDEP whether the Division Manager was authorized to sign the document, they confirmed that Mr. Ikeler’s signature would be acceptable. FDEP included a fine of $42,250 with the Consent Order which included a $250 administrative fine. The Utilities Department has garnered approval from FDEP to offset the remaining penalties associated with this inspection report with an eligible Pollution Prevention (P2) Project by planning to install two electric vehicle charging stations at SWRF. This P2 Project aligns with the Mayor’s Sustainable Operations & Resilience Action Plan (SORAP) Goals.
Corrective action has been taken to help prevent future violations and includes additional staff training on sample collection and established flow diversion procedures, weekly preventative maintenance inspections of our disk filters, media, and equipment, and written communication to operators regarding identified errors on required operational paperwork. Additionally, we currently conduct monthly self-inspections at all our Water Reclamation facilities to mitigate the possibility of potential violations. Management subsequently audits these inspections on a periodic basis to ensure any identified deficiencies are addressed in a timely manner. We will incorporate into our prevention strategies what we have learned from this latest incident along with feedback from our consultant, and we will continue to look for and identify ways that our internal inspection and auditing processes can be improved to attenuate the likelihood of future exceedances.
The County Attorney’s Office was consulted on bringing this Consent Order for Board approval. It is their opinion that this should be brought as a ratification and OCU concurs that full transparency is the appropriate step for this Consent Order and any future Consent Orders.
The County Attorney’s Office reviewed the agreement and found it acceptable as to form. Utilities Department staff recommend approval.
BUDGET: N/A