Polk County is preparing to borrow up to $250 million as it heads into a $722 million water and sewer buildout, with new treatment plants, wells, pipelines and pumping stations planned through 2031. Nearly $491.5 million of that work will add capacity to a utility system serving a growing number of homes and businesses, while another $230.5 million will replace or rebuild infrastructure already in the ground.
The biggest piece sits in northeast Polk, where the county’s largest wastewater service area had 32,298 customer connections by September 2025. Its treatment plant can handle 6 million gallons per day and was already averaging 5.7 million during the year ending that September. Polk plans to spend $229.9 million to push capacity to 9 million gallons per day, with the extra room expected to be needed before 2030.
The county is also pushing the sewer network farther into northeast Polk, adding lines and two large pumping stations along Ernie Caldwell Boulevard and U.S. 17/92. Farther east, another $37.1 million would build a new wastewater treatment plant as Polk lays out a system meant to handle decades of additional demand. Altogether, the county has $359.7 million in sewer expansion planned through 2031.
The water system gets another $131.8 million in expansion work, including a new East Regional Water Production Facility, new wells and mains and facilities that can take alternative water supplies from the Polk Regional Water Cooperative. The list also includes the Cherry Hill Direct Potable Reuse Facility, which would take highly treated wastewater and turn it into drinking water rather than relying solely on traditional groundwater supplies.
Paying for that larger system will reach existing customers as well as the new development driving much of the expansion. Polk had 89,657 water connections and 71,937 sewer connections by September 2025, while the amount collected from water and sewer service climbed from $82.3 million in fiscal 2021 to $109.7 million in fiscal 2025.
A household using 6,000 gallons a month — Polk’s benchmark for an average residential customer — now pays $116.41 for combined water and sewer service. That bill is set to climb to $124.62 in fiscal 2027, an increase of $8.21 a month, or about 7%. At that level, Polk would charge more than Hillsborough County’s $111.30 and Pinellas County’s $115.69 for the same usage.
New homes face a larger hit before the first monthly bill arrives. Beginning Jan. 1, combined water and sewer connection charges for a typical single-family home are scheduled to jump from $9,207 to $11,449 — an increase of $2,242, or about 24%.
Much of the construction is coming quickly, with Polk expecting to spend about $177.5 million in fiscal 2026, $161.6 million in 2027 and $134.2 million in 2028. That puts roughly $473 million of the six-year program into its first three years, with the proposed bonds repaid from utility revenues and connection charges rather than property taxes.
Polk County commissioners will vote Sept. 15 on the borrowing.