BSU invites member-customers for tours Jan. 14

Wednesday, 14 December 2011 13:47 |

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (Dec. 13, 2011) – Bonita Springs Utilities invites its member-customers for tours, information and refreshments Saturday, Jan. 14 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Member-Customer Appreciation Day will provide the opportunity to meet BSU staff and board members, learn about the utility’s operations and see how water and wastewater are processed.

Visitors are invited to start at the Operations Service Center. Take East Terry Street to Morton Avenue and head north. Turn left onto West Morton Road, which turns into Wellfield Road at the bend. Head north and turn left onto Operations Way. Event signs will be posted.

“Our facilities have received national recognition and often are visited by utility professionals,” said BSU Executive Director Fred Partin. “We think it’s important that our member-customers have the chance to see how we work and what it takes to keep the water flowing.”

BSU staff members will grill and serve complimentary hot dogs at the Operations Service Center, which serves as headquarters for BSU’s field staff and as the master-control facility for the utility’s water-production and wastewater-treatment facilities. Visitors will tour the 22,500-square-foot building, which includes administrative offices, a training room, shop area and warehouse space, as well as home base for BSU’s vehicle fleet.

Trolley tours will

The East Water Reclamation Facility is one of three Bonita Springs Utilities facilities that will be open for tours Saturday, Jan. 14.

be offered for the adjoining East Water Reclamation Facility, located along I-75 north of East Terry Street. BSU employees will explain how the facility converts wastewater into irrigation water and fertilizer pellets. When it began operation in January 2007, the facility was the largest membrane-bioreactor plant commissioned in the state of Florida. The facility can treat 4 million gallons of wastewater per day. With BSU’s original wastewater-treatment facility, BSU processed 1.4 billion gallons of wastewater during 2010.

Visitors also are invited to tour BSU’s reverse-osmosis and lime-softening water treatment plants on East Terry Street. These facilities convert raw water from underground aquifers into pure drinking water. BSU blends the water from the two processes for optimum taste and purity before piping it to member-customers. During 2010, BSU produced nearly 2.5 billion gallons of potable water.

Bonita Springs Utilities is a not-for-profit water and wastewater utility founded by local citizens in 1971. Today, the member-owned utility serves more than 40,000 homes and businesses in a 60-square-mile area. For more information, visit the BSU website at www.BSU.us.