MULBERRY – Mulberry is facing an estimated $8 million in repairs to its aging wastewater system to stop stormwater from pouring through its cracks, but that cost isn’t expected to impact customer rates. City Manager Rick Johnson said grant funding should cover the lion’s share of the repairs, and recent efficiency measures have trimmed the utility’s expenses to the point that it can absorb the balance. “I don’t anticipate a rate increase,” he said last week. “We’ve made some changes that have reduced our costs for sludge removal, and we’re working with fewer employees than in the past. We’ve done some other things, too, so we’re at a good place to do something now.” On average, he said, the city’s wastewater plant processes about 250,000 gallons a day, but when a heavy storm dumps a couple inches of rain on the city, that total skyrockets. “Our treatment capacity at the plant is 800,000 gallons,” he said, “and when we have a significant rain event, it takes us right up to the edge of that. It will get up to 750,000 gallons for a couple days.” He said that will happen several times during the rainy season. It stresses the city’s wastewater treatment plant, and it costs the city money. “There aren’t any customers paying to process that wastewater,” he said. In his report to the city, Winter Haven engineer Steve Elias of Envisors said his team inspected 331 manholes throughout Mulberry in the last 18 months, and 90 percent of them need repairs. “Some of the manhole covers have 1914 stamped on them,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if that’s a date or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me.”
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