Fanning Springs gets $5.8 million from USDA for wastewater facility

By Carrie A. Mizell

The 40th anniversary of Earth Day was celebrated in Fanning Springs last Thursday with great flourish.
City leaders were delighted to gather at Ft. Fanning Historical Park, alongside officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to announce $5.8 million in funding that has been secured through the USDA for a new wastewater facility in Fanning Springs.

Joseph Mueller, interim state director of USDA Rural Development, said that the City of Fanning Springs will receive a $2,946,000 loan and a $2,855,000 grant from Rural Development for construction of a centralized wastewater collection and treatment facility.
The project, leveraged with $600,000 in state Community Development Block Grant funds, will decommission existing septic tank systems, replace three packaged wastewater treatment plants and reduce the amount of nitrates in the community’s groundwater.
According to Sheila Watson, city clerk at Fanning Springs City Hall, the new facility will be built on 23 acres the city owns on SR 26 near the Suwannee River Shrine Club. Construction on the facility is expected to begin in late 2010 or early 2011.
“As we celebrate Earth Day, we recognize the City of Fanning Springs for its efforts to safeguard the area’s natural resources,” Mueller said, as he presented city officials with a plaque recognizing their stewardship efforts.
Funding for the Fanning Springs facility was made available by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection identified Fanning Springs as an area of concern due to high levels of nitrates in its groundwater.
Each day, the freshwater springs of Fanning Springs pour 65 million gallons of spring water into the Suwannee River. Once it is constructed, the new wastewater treatment facility will be capable of advanced treatment for nitrogen, thereby improving spring and groundwater conditions in the area.
Fanning Springs officials have been working toward this new facility for many years.