Officials will go over the most recent projects for improvements to the roughly 350-million-gallon Golden Gem reclaimed water facility, including updates on construction of the facility’s distribution pump station and pond reconstruction, during an Apopka City Commission Workshop on Wednesday.  

Vladimir Simonovski, public works director and city engineer, and Kevin Friedman, an engineer with Ardaman & Associates, Inc. and its parent company, Tetra Tech, will make the presentation at the workshop. 

Simonovski is slated to provide an overview of the facility, including its regional significance, environmental benefits and partnership history with the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD). The city originally entered into an agreement with SJRWMD in 2009 and voted to extend it for the seventh time at the May 20 City Commission regular meeting. The current extension runs from May 30 through March 31, 2027. 

At the same meeting, Simonovski said the city has budgeted about $12.5 million through its capital improvement program for a new pump station and between $2.5 million and $3 million for replacement of the pond liners alone. 

The city of Apopka maintains interlocal agreements with Sunshine Water, Orange County, the city of Altamonte Springs and the city of Mount Dora. Those agreements were executed between 2011 and 2018. 

The Golden Gem facility consists of two ponds: the East Pond, completed in 2021; and the West Pond, completed in 2023. The facility has undergone extensive evaluation and repair efforts since a sinkhole formed at the site in January 2024. 

The June 17 workshop presentation materials outline the next phases of design, construction and reconstruction for both ponds, beginning in September and extending beyond spring 2027. According to the documents, city staff will provide regular milestone updates to the City Commission. 

Friedman is slated to present findings from the facility assessment, proposed design solutions and an implementation schedule. 

According to the workshop materials, existing observations include failures at liner seams that have resulted in leakage, deterioration of liner material, gravel or rock fragments beneath the liners causing protrusions, and isolated clay deposits that may create a perched water table above the pond-bottom elevation. 

Proposed design solutions include evaluating subsurface soils beneath the pond bottoms and side slopes to ensure they can adequately support the liner system, assessing groundwater conditions, installing a textured 60-mil-thick HDPE geomembrane liner and providing a protective soil cover above the liner. 

The implementation schedule calls for separating work on the West Pond from work on the East Pond and prioritizing the return of the smaller West Pond to service as soon as practical. Design of the West Pond is currently targeted for completion in August, followed by bidding and construction, with reconstruction expected to finish by March 2027. 

A schedule for the East Pond has not yet been established because the city’s immediate priority is restoring the West Pond to service, according to the presentation materials.