City of Lakeland

The City of Lakeland is requesting funding to purchase and install five (5), 125 kW fixed generators for five (5) sanitary sewer lift station sites within the City Limits. These lift stations include Lakeland Fire Department, East Howell Drive, Burnt Church Road, Talley Avenue, and Davis Avenue. This project will also include the installation of an automatic transfer switch to each generator, as well as a concrete pad for each fixed generator location. This project will also include complete rehabilitation of the Davis Avenue lift station where currently only one of the two pumps is operational. The recent natural disaster, Hurricane Helene, caused extensive damage across the Southeast, with Lakeland among the hardest-hit areas. The City experienced a prolonged power outage lasting several weeks, necessitating the use of portable generators and bypass pumps to prevent the existing lift stations from backing up and causing sanitary sewer overflows. Installing permanent generators would offer a long-term, cost-effective solution, ensuring reliable sewer system operations during power outages and mitigating the risk of future disruptions. These generators will provide resiliency to the City's critical sanitary sewer infrastructure as it will continue sewer operations during extreme weather events and at times of extended loss of power for the City’s only hospital, its schools, its residences, and its businesses. Permanent (fixed) generators are critical for continuous operation of sewage pump stations, ensuring reliable wastewater transport during power outages. They prevent backups and overflows that could cause environmental contamination, health hazards, and costly infrastructure damage. By providing seamless backup power, generators maintain pump functionality, alarms, and monitoring systems, protecting public health, ensuring regulatory compliance, and enhancing operational resilience. In addition to the installation of a generator, the Davis Avenue lift station requires critical improvements and upgrades. This lift station has a history of pump failures and sewage