The City of Miami Beach (City) owns and operates Sewer Pump Station No. 28 (PS 28), the City’s largest lift/booster sewer pump station, which serves as a critical component of the overall sewer collection and transmission system—encompassing the sanitary sewer service areas for all Mid- and North Beach, as well as surrounding municipalities, including Town of Surfside, Town of Bay Harbor Islands, and the Village of Bal Harbour. PS 28 conveys flow from the entire mid and northern portion of the City to the south, for treatment at the Miami-Dade County Central District Wastewater Treatment Plant, in Virginia Key. PS 28B is one of two regional booster stations in the City and failure of this asset would have severe impact.

PS 28 is located at 300 West 28^th Street and consists of a booster station (28B), with three pumps that re-pump sewage from upstream basins and a lift station (28L) with three pumps that pump sewage from a local gravity collection system. 28L has a wet/dry well configuration, and 28B is an in-line booster station. 28L discharge piping is manifolded to the discharge side of the 28B pumps. PS 28 also has an above-ground electrical building that houses controls, electrical equipment, and an indoor diesel emergency generator. An odor control system is also present at the site as well as an influent structure upstream of the 28L wet well.

The rehabilitation of Pump Station 28 was identified as a Critical Need in the 2019 Sewer Master Plan, which recommended a complete rehabilitation of this pump station to ensure reliability moving forward, including upgrades to mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation equipment that has reached the end of its useful life. The pump station structure itself is also in need of structural rehabilitation. Additionally, the City was awarded a Florida Commerce (formally Department of Economic Opportunity) Grant in December of 2021 in the amount of $5,000,000 with a City Match of $1,500,000 for the hardening of PS 28B and 28L. This grant would fund improvements that assist in protecting PS 28 as a critical asset for the City and in improving safety for our City’s Public Works pump station operators and staff.  Additionally, improvements also include the replacement of the generator, installation of new ventilation and HVAC systems, improvements to site accessibility, efforts to stormproof and harden the station such as installing hurricane proof windows and doors, watertight hatches, soundproofing, etc., and assist in funding the demolition and construction of a new and elevated electrical building.

Over the last few years, PS 28 has experienced several malfunctions.

• In 2020, force main breaks and malfunction at Pump Station 28 prompted a citywide moratorium. The Moratorium was lifted in September of 2020 once Pump Station 28 was put back into service and force mains were repaired.

• On June 29^th, 2023 one of the three pumps at the Sewer Pump Station 28B malfunctioned. A corrective action plan was submitted to Miami-Dade County and the City was not placed into mortarium.

• On January 12^th, 2024, a second pump out of the three pumps at the PS 28B malfunctioned. PS 28B was operating on only one pump and the City was placed in a Temporary Moratorium by Miami-Dade County. The City’s Public Works Operations team was able to troubleshoot the pump and get the booster back on-line by January 19^th, 2024. The Temporary Moratorium was lifted on January 22, 2024 with the conditions that the City will be placed into automatic moratorium if any of the following scenarios occur: (1) another pump failure resulting in the station operating with only one pump will trigger an automatic Moratorium; (2) a pump failure resulting in the station operating with no pumps will trigger an automatic Moratorium; (3) failure to bring back into operation Pump No. 1 by the End of February 2024 will trigger an automatic Moratorium; and (4) in the event that Condition No. 1, or No. 2, or No. 3 occur, the PS will remain under Temporary Moratorium (TM ) until all three pumps are placed back into operation.

If the Service Area for Pump Station 28 is placed in Moratorium, it will affect all areas in Mid and North Beach as well as the Satellite Cities the City serves (Surfside, Bay Harbor Islands, and Bal Harbour). Any development or resident that proposed changes to the sewer system in this area will not be issued a Miami-Dade County Permit to connect to the system until Moratorium is lifted. Although residents and businesses connected may remain unaffected, all ongoing infrastructure and development projects will be halted. Furthermore, a complete failure of this station could potentially result in significant raw sewage discharge into our precious environmental resources and severe public health impacts.

The project's independent construction estimate, completed March 2024, is $32.3 million (Class 1 estimate with +10% to -5% accuracy, thus in the range of $30.7 million to $35.5 million). This project is partially funded as part of Capital Project No. 20619 Wastewater Pump Stations, and it is a recipient of a $5.0 million grant from the State of Florida Commerce (formally Department of Economic Opportunity).

The Administration plans to present a recommendation to FERC in April 2024, and subsequently to Commission in May 2024, to authorize for the Administration to execute a Declaration of Official Intent in the amount of $85.0 million in new money proceeds to fund water and sewer critical needs projects, including issuance costs—without any rate increases proposed. The issuance amount includes the current budget gap for the implementation of the Pump Station 28 Rehabilitation Project. The intent is to issue the project for competitive bid in April, receive bids in June, and be prepared to recommend an award thereafter in June/July 2024, at which point the project will be fully funded. This request is intended to fast-track the execution of this critical project to the extent possible, while adhering to the City’s competitive bid policies and procedures.