Water Service in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

All Fort Lauderdale tap water starts underground in the Biscayne Aquifer, which the 2025 Water Quality Report names as the sole source of the city drinking water, pumped from city wells (2025 Water Quality Report).

The Distribution and Collection sections of Utility Services are responsible for the raw water wellfields and pumping systems (City of Fort Lauderdale Utility Services). The Peele-Dixie plant, for example, draws from eight Biscayne wells a few miles away at the Fort Lauderdale Country Club, and its whole path from well field to concentrate injection well is a closed system (City of Fort Lauderdale Peele-Dixie).

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection ran a Source Water Assessment on the Fort Lauderdale system in 2025 and found 19 potential sources of contamination near the wells, at a moderate susceptibility level; the full results sit on the FDEP source water program site (2025 Water Quality Report). The report says the assessment was conducted to provide information about potential sources of contamination in the vicinity of the wells.

The Prospect Lake Clean Water Center, whose opening the city celebrated on October 15, 2026, replaces Fiveash as the primary Fort Lauderdale water plant, while Fiveash becomes a storage and distribution center (City of Fort Lauderdale, October 15, 2026).

The opening notice says nothing new about the smaller Peele-Dixie plant. The city puts the Prospect Lake project at approximately $666 million including related infrastructure. The plant uses nanofiltration and ion exchange, is designed to produce up to 50 million gallons a day, and is engineered for Category 5 hurricane-force winds. It was delivered through a public-private partnership of the City of Fort Lauderdale, IDE Technologies, Ridgewood Infrastructure and Kiewit Water Facilities Florida Co. The city began transitioning water from the new plant into the distribution system in September, and the transition is occurring gradually as the plant is brought fully online (City of Fort Lauderdale).

Peele-Dixie reached its present form in April 2008, when a membrane plant with four 3 MGD trains replaced a lime softening plant that had run for 82 years. It is designed to recover 85 percent of its water as permeate and sends the remaining 15 percent concentrate to an injection well approximately 3,000 feet deep (Peele-Dixie). Fiveash was built in 1954 to treat 8 million gallons a day and grew to 70 MGD; it carries the name of Charles W. Fiveash, water superintendent from 1941 to 1954 (City of Fort Lauderdale Fiveash).

The city website has not caught up everywhere. On October 18, 2026, the Fiveash page still said that plant supplies the bulk of Fort Lauderdale drinking water (Fiveash page), and the 2025 Water Quality Report, written before the switch, names Fiveash and Peele-Dixie as the only two plants (2025 report). The October 15, 2026 opening notice is the newest city statement of which plant leads.

The Fort Lauderdale utility counts 176,000 residents, 300,000 visitors and six neighboring municipalities among its water users, so the system reaches well past the Fort Lauderdale city limits (City of Fort Lauderdale Utility Services).

The pipe network is large for a 38 square mile service area: over 1,400 miles of drinking water mains and sewer pipe of both force and gravity types, along with meters, supply wells and their pumps, valves and sewage pump stations, all kept up by the Distribution and Collection division (City of Fort Lauderdale Distribution and Collection).

Sewer service runs on the same regional model. On an average day 36.3 million gallons of sewage reach the George T. Lohmeyer plant, which under Large User Agreements also handles flow from Wilton Manors, Oakland Park, Port Everglades and sections of Tamarac and Davie as well as Fort Lauderdale (Utility Services). For a Fort Lauderdale service question, the Customer Service Center number is 954-828-8000, and FixIt FTL takes requests online (City of Fort Lauderdale New Utility Rates).

For the city sample household (a 5/8 inch meter and 5,000 gallons a month), the Fort Lauderdale water and sewer total became $124.62 on October 1, 2026, which is $7.83 more than the old $116.79 (City of Fort Lauderdale New Utility Rates).

Inside that sample, the water line went to $54.36 and the sewer line to $70.26. The City Commission approved the increase at its September 15, 2026 public meeting after a comprehensive update to the June 2, 2026 Water and Sewer Utility Rate Study, and the revenue is held in an enterprise fund, the Water and Sewer Fund, so all funds collected stay in that fund and are used for water and wastewater related expenses only (City of Fort Lauderdale).

The 2023 schedule was published to fund Prospect Lake, after the Commission approved the plant, and it promised automated meters that flag leaks (City of Fort Lauderdale 2023 rate plan). The FY27 figure adopted in 2026 runs above that plan for Fort Lauderdale water.

One caution about the Fort Lauderdale rate notice: it is not consistent on sewer. A bulleted list applies 9 percent to water and wastewater fixed and commodity charges and 5 percent to sanitation charges, a footnote then gives an overall 9 percent for water and 5 percent for wastewater, the commercial answer repeats 9 and 5 percent, and the sample sewer line rises from $66.91 to $70.26, about 5 percent (New Utility Rates). Since May 1, 2024, paying by credit or debit card adds a third-party processor fee ranging from $1.95 to 2.95 percent of the payment; recurring ACH and one-time EFT payments are not charged a fee (City of Fort Lauderdale).

The Fort Lauderdale 2025 Water Quality Report, required by July 1 each year under the Safe Drinking Water Act, reports results from city sampling between January 1 and December 31, 2025 (City of Fort Lauderdale Water Quality Report).

Fort Lauderdale says the report draws on about 100,000 tests a year in state-certified laboratories: daily bacterial and chemical tests on finished water, weekly bacteriological tests in the distribution system, monthly and quarterly tests of supply wells, and annual tests for every regulated contaminant. It is delivered online by default, and a paper copy is mailed on request through the Customer Service Center at 954-828-8000 (Water Quality Report page).

Three treatment facts in the Fort Lauderdale report matter to anyone comparing it with older editions. Water is disinfected with chloramines; the city discontinued adding fluoride before July 2025 to comply with Florida law; and lead and copper sampling is being conducted again in Summer 2026, alongside a lead service line inventory the city performed with a consultant (2025 Water Quality Report). Under the July 1 annual deadline, the next Fort Lauderdale edition is due by July 1, 2027, the first since the Prospect Lake opening.

Fort Lauderdale lawns follow the South Florida Water Management District two-day rule: odd-numbered addresses on Wednesday and Saturday, even or unnumbered addresses on Thursday and Sunday, never between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (SFWMD year-round irrigation rule).

Broward County says the SFWMD year-round restrictions apply in every Broward city and that, in general, no watering is allowed on Monday, Tuesday or Friday, which matches the two-day schedule (Broward County Water Conservation). Properties that water both even and odd addresses in one zone, which the SFWMD says may include multi-family units and homeowners associations, fall on the Thursday and Sunday schedule, and the SFWMD adds that some cities and counties adopt stricter local ordinances, so residents should check local rules (SFWMD).

Broward also runs conservation incentives. The Broward Water Partnership, a group of 16 municipalities and water utilities, offers toilet rebates of up to $125 each for qualifying residents, businesses and nonprofits, along with water-efficient shower heads and faucet aerators, though not every service area takes part (Broward County). Fort Lauderdale customers can check eligibility on the partnership site before replacing fixtures.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the City of Fort Lauderdale utility, treatment plant, rate and water quality pages, the 2025 Water Quality Report, SFWMD and Broward County.