Water: West Volusia gets time to make a plan
By Pat Hatfield
For the West Volusia Beacon
October 9, 2009
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City of DeLand Public Services Director Keith Riger is breathing a little easier these days.
"It appears West Volusia may have more time," Riger said.
Time, that is, to develop strategies to supply water to West Volusia residents in the coming years, as the St. Johns River Water Management District directs utilities away from the aquifer as a sole source of water, and to alternatives such as the river and the ocean.
Florida's water districts announced a few years ago that they would not issue any more groundwater-withdrawal permits after 2013; that local suppliers would have to get any additional water from other sources, including surface water.
Volusia County and the Cities of DeLand, Deltona and Orange City banded together to find their own solution. They weren't happy with the Water Management District's suggestions: pipe water from the Ocklawaha River in Putnam County or from Seminole County's Yankee Lake plant on the St. Johns.
Then, in July, the Water Management District Governing Board put the brakes on its push to treat river water for drinking. The agency announced it would delay funding river-water-withdrawal projects until environmental-protection studies of the St. Johns and Ocklawaha rivers are completed.
"We think we have until at least 2019 to construct a surface-water plant," Riger said.
Tha'’s still in the near future, in terms of construction, he noted.
The district believes Volusia County's use of groundwater from the aquifer is reaching its sustainable limit, St. Johns River Water Management District spokesman Ed Garland said.
He noted the Water Management District and utilities are working together to provide water to the growing population and protect Florida's springs at the same time.
Can Seminole afford to build Yankee Lake?
Seminole County had hoped to supply much of the Central Florida water deficit from its Yankee Lake plant, but is now re-evaluating that plan.
The Water Management District approved Seminole County's plan to begin withdrawing 5.5 mgd a day at Yankee Lake. This initial use will be largely for irrigation in Seminole County.
In the future, Seminole County planned to increase the output of the plant to 55 or 70 mgd, largely of drinking water, to supply Seminole’s needs and to sell water to neighboring counties.
The Riverkeeper and the City of Jacksonville challenged the Yankee Lake plan in court, fearing the effects of lowering the water level and discharging waste from the treatment process back into the river.
City of DeLand engineer Riger said water suppliers are watching the court case. They are also looking for the results of a Water Management District study of flows and levels at Blue Spring, due next year.
The price tag for Yankee Lake could be as high as $68 million, not including pipes to get the water from the plant to customers. To afford to build it, Seminole County needed millions of dollars from its neighbors, and tried to sign up utilities like DeLand and Volusia County as partners in the plant. That didn't work.
So far, Central Florida utilities have not been willing to pay millions, with no guarantee of how much water they might get from Yankee Lake, when they could get it, and how much they would have to pay.
Seminole County is re-evaluating, Environmental Services Director Andrew Neff said. His department is looking at the costs, scheduling and infrastructure needed, both with and without partners.
Assistant Seminole County Manager Sabrina O'Bryan said when the study is completed in a few months, that information will come to the county commissioners for their review and decision.
Yankee Lake is one of a number of proposed plants along the river that could drain the St. Johns of 260 million gallons of water every day to satisfy Central Florida's thirst.
Some experts suggest bypassing those environmentally dangerous plans — which would supply sufficient water only in the short term, anyway — and going straight to the ocean, where desalination plants like Coquina Coast, proposed off Flagler County, could provide water.
But treated ocean water would cost four to eight times what we now pay.
All this and more will be the topics of a West Volusia Summit beginning at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at City Council Chambers in DeBary City Hall, at 16 Colomba Road. The meeting is open to the public.
Private wells
With sky-high water prices looming, and local utilities structuring their rates to penalize heavy users, the question is asked more and more often: What about people who get their water from private wells? Who's tracking their use, and making them pay?
Monitoring private wells has been viewed by local governments as a logistical nightmare. New digital meters might make it possible.
But the Water Management District won't do it. Counties, which give out the permits for residential wells, could do it if they want to, district spokesman Garland said.
There are around 40,000 domestic-supply wells in the county, Volusia Environmental Manager Steve Kintner said.
A little more than half of them supply household water. Most of the remainder are irrigation wells; there are also a small number of monitoring wells.
Some utility customers don't want to pay potable-water and sewer rates to water their lawns, so they install separate irrigation wells.
Kintner said the topic of metering household wells comes up at planning councils from time to time, but there is currently no plan to do so.
How much water comes out of those wells?
Rich Marella of the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the typical residential well pumps around 200 gallons of water a day for 2.3 or 2.4 people. That includes a small amount of irrigation.
Kintner believes the average is higher. "The average water customer in Florida is using 149 gallons per person, per day," he said, or around 358 gallons for the average household of 2.4 people.
Residential-well users are bound by the same watering restrictions as other users.
"There are people who don’t believe they have to comply with conservation requirements," Kintner said. "They don't understand their water comes out of the aquifer."
Find rules for lawn watering at your address at www.volusia.org/water.
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