Lake Worth, We Have a Problem. (re-post)

I thought I'd bring this back to the front of the blog for people who may not have read it before. It was an op-ed piece I did for the Lake Worth Herald during the time when the original Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant faced its Waterloo (sorry) regarding permitting RO discharge from an existing ocean outfall. At last Tuesday's 1 p.m. City Commission meeting, we learned from Dr. Darceneau, P.E. from the University of Central Florida that we know more about what happens with RO concentrate (the "waste product" from brakish water filtration and desalinization - actually 33% of the salinity of sea water and wrongly classifed as industrial waste) than we do with deep well injection 3,000 ft. below ground. We also learned that many of the problems associated with ocean outfall of concentrate can largely be dealt with through various technological applications, but deep well injection is the most promenient disposal method throughout the state of Florida. The City Commission seemed all over the board with their opinions in terms of the preferred method and, as of now, we are proceeding with deep well injection. There will be a bid package put together for a 3 mgd and and 4.5 mgd (mgd=millions of gallons per day) RO plant on the July 7th City Commission meeting agenda. This will allow for the city to apply for a state revolving loan fund grant for, I think, $3 million.

It struck me after hearing the various presentations that the ocean outfall was not that bad of an alternative - but the perception of dumping what is called "wastewater" in the ocean is difficult to overcome in the eye of public opinion.

This is a piece that Pat Parrish asked that I put together regarding the Reverse Osmosis ocean outfall. Drew Martin was to put together one against issuance of the permit. Don't forget to pick up a copy of the Herald to read both points of view!

Title: Lake Worth, we have a problem.

Our problem began about 100 years ago when the human population of South Florida began to increase. First brought by trains, then by cars, then by airplanes, then by boats and eventually by combinations of all modes of transportation, the population of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties mushroomed to over 5,000,000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In the year 2000, the area even gained the “honor” of being a named Urbanized Area by the Bureau. Over the past 50 years, our region has outpaced all but two others within the United States in annual percentage rates of growth. The post-World War II growth is the most phenomenal. In 1950, our region’s population was 500,000. Since that time we have added a population equal to the cities of Chicago and Philadelphia combined! Being part of the region, Lake Worth’s growth followed the same pattern, but is now relatively stable.

Now, think about our geography as a region. We have another honor in that we are one of the longest urbanized areas in the Country. We are about the same length as the New York metropolitan area – there is no close second. This is due to being sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean to the east and what is left of the Everglades to the west. The very reasons that we came here – a unique sub-tropical environment and proximity to the Gulfstream became the ultimate controllers of our geographic and, maybe, of our population growth. The extensive geographic length of the region spreads its human impact over a much greater area – especially as it relates to ocean-related resources. One needs only to look at the devastation of the coral reef system in the Keys as one of the results of this concentration of human activity.

Like the 1971 Earth Day “Pogo” Cartoon so succinctly put: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” We are placing more demands upon a sensitive eco-system with every new person that moves here. Each drink of water, flush of the toilet and turn of the spigot is more than nature or man ever anticipated. The results have been most recently demonstrated by our current record drought situation, the shrinking of Lake Okeechobee and threats to our own municipal potable water well sources.

In search of a stable source of potable water, a previous City Commission chose to go forward with its own reverse osmosis plant instead of contracting with Palm Beach County Water Utilities as a supplemental source of water due to probable saltwater intrusion into the surficial aquifer. This became necessary by the South Florida Water Management District’s reduction of our permit to draw water from the surficial aquifer – from 7.5 million to 5.5 million gallons per day. Our City of Lake Worth’s demand will range from 8 to 12 million gallons of water per day.

Regardless of your position on whether or not going forward with the reverse osmosis plant was a good idea for the City of Lake Worth, $40 million in bonds have been issued, plans have been drawn, work has been started and a permit to discharge 4 million gallons a day of “concentrate” – the waste product from the reverse osmosis treatment of the salty water drawn from the Floridan aquifer – may be issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). For a whole lot of money and possible impact to our off-shore natural resources, we are hanging on to our status as a “full service city”. Hopefully this will guarantee our own municipal water source for a future generation - maybe. Hubris and necessity have a price.

In reviewing a discharge permit application, DEP officials examine four main criteria to determine whether or not such a permit would be in the public interest. One is reduction upon the reliance on the surficial aquifer which is vulnerable to saltwater intrusion. With the reverse osmosis plant taking its water source from the shallower Floridan aquifer, this criterion is met. Another criterion is that the discharge of concentrate does not create a public health hazard. The concentrate would not have bacteria or suspended solids, so it meets this criterion according to DEP. A third criterion is that the discharge of this concentrate would not have an impact on the Surface Water Management Plan and, given the ocean location of the existing dormant outfall, it wouldn’t impact that resource.

Nutrients have been linked to reef degradation and algal growth, which smothers reefs. Concern about the release of the concentrate through the existing ocean outfall relates to its potential impact on the coral reef system. This includes the Horseshoe Reef that is approximately 5,000 feet (slightly less than one mile) from the discharge point. In DEP’s opinion, based upon the experts working on the City’s behalf and their own professional experience, the scientific modeling showed no impact to the reef system – the final criterion upon which an application is judged. Experts concluded that the additional nutrients carried within this lighter-than-ocean-water concentrate would be ten times less nutrient laden than the next closest source of nutrients – that being rainwater. It is further dwarfed by other point sources of nutrient contamination along Florida’s Atlantic coast. These include the two outlets from the Lake Worth Lagoon and six wastewater outfalls along the eastern coast of Florida – the main contributors to the ocean’s nutrient load. Its lighter-than-ocean-water quality has been shown by experts to carry the reverse osmosis concentrate up and away from the bottom of the ocean – the reef’s habitat.

Other alternatives to the discharge have been examined and discarded due to excessive cost, impracticalities or other negative environmental impacts. Also being discussed is a possible Lake Worth Lagoon discharge.

So, Lake Worth, we have a problem. The City is in the unenviable position that it must assert itself as being just another very small straw on a weakened camel’s back. We are just a five mile by five mile municipality of around 40,000 people – 0.8% of the region’s total population. Those that are against this outfall for environmental reasons see the City as potentially being the straw the breaks the camel’s back once and for all.

The point here is that we really need to do all we reasonably can to control the large point-source contributors of nutrients to the ocean’s ecology from South Florida’s mega-urbanized area – which would likely have a large positive impact per dollar spent on the reef system. We also need to monitor the results of the concentrate discharge both for nutrient content and reef impact – by a third party and for the long term. We must also sever any connection so that future sewage discharge is impossible (one of the former uses of the outfall and one of the conditions of the permit). And, finally, we need to take into account all relevant public and scientific comments. We should make sure that we thoroughly examine other alternatives, such as a discharge to the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Taking all this into consideration, DEP should issue the discharge permit with these and other applicable conditions to safeguard our reef system for future generations – along with a providing a reliable and relatively economical supply of drinking water for the 40,000 residents of Lake Worth.