Pensacola News Journal – December 11, 2015
The supply of secure, safe drinking water is steadily declining as the population grows and developments pop up in South Florida like wildflowers.
Is Northwest Florida destined for the same fate?
A man paid to know that answer says no.
“We’re a lot better off than down south. They have millions of people, and we don’t,” says Brett Cyphers, executive director of the Northwest Florida Water Management District. “Folks in South Florida are making up for challenges, and for us, it’s more of how do you manage the system to make sure that doesn’t happen to us?”
Shallow, cheaper freshwater aquifers in South Florida are nearly tapped out, and the decline of freshwater leaves the region vulnerable to saltwater intrusion.
An aquifer is a layer that contains or transmits groundwater held in place by other layers. Some coastal cities are switching to deeper, brackish aquifers that sometimes cost billions to build and operate.
Tim Haag, Emerald Coast Utilities Authority director of governmental affairs, says some in the water industry foresaw the South Florida plight coming some 30 years ago.
“Back in the ’80s, there was an ungodly amount of people moving to the state of Florida on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. The influx of population into central and southern parts of the state got way ahead of what some of the utilities had to provide in water.”
Northwest Florida is seeing population growth, too, but at an incomparably smaller rate, and the region benefits from what Cyphers and Haag describe as a tremendous water source.
The primary water source for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties is the sand-and-gravel aquifer. The thickness of the aquifer in Escambia ranges between 350 and 530 feet and measures at about 400 feet in Santa Rosa. The Floridan aquifer is the source for a small portion of Santa Rosa and all of Okaloosa and Walton counties.
Cyphers says concerns about water levels and the threat of saltwater intrusion prompted legislators to implement initiatives in the late 1990s to stabilize the coastal Floridan aquifer. First and foremost, they moved wellfields inland away from the coast.
A water supply assessment by the district in 2010 revealed massive improvements since the initiatives. At that time, the assessment indicated water supply will be ample in Northwest Florida for the next 25 years.
“It’s a case of folks thinking about it and putting their money where their mouths are,” Cyphers says.
The assessment factored in significant population growth and water use in Santa Rosa. The district forecasted the population to increase by about 70,000 and its water use to increase from 24.76 millions of gallons per day in 2010 to 38.45 mgd in 2035.
The Escambia population is projected to increase only about 22,000 in that same 25-year span, and the projected water use increase will be minimal, rising from 95.38 mgd in 2010 to 95.99 in 2035.
Northwest Florida is perhaps safe in terms of water supply, but the cleanliness of its groundwater is a concern, particularly in Superfund Site-laden Escambia.
“The greatest risk is that of contamination, and we’ve seen plenty of that south of Fairfield Drive, in particular, and maybe more south of Brent Lane,” says Keith Wilkins, who just completed his first week as assistant city administrator after previously serving as county director of natural resources management.
Remediation of sites is all too common in Escambia. Wilkins says the number of remediated sites is in the 600 ballpark.
ECUA supplies water to approximately 80 percent of the population in Escambia, and Haag says the utility company has never found saltwater intrusion in any of its 32 wells. Eleven of the wells include a granular activated-carbon filter to remove certain chemicals, particularly organic chemicals, from the water.
Haag says the utilities company uses a three-dimensional model of the aquifer to conduct ‘What if?’ scenarios. ECUA acts in accordance with the Wellhead Protection Ordinance to further minimize risks.
Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1986 established the Wellhead Protection Program, which requires each state to develop a comprehensive groundwater protection program and encourage local water systems to develop wellhead protection plans.
“If we find out a contamination source is too close to the well or there’s contamination, then we’re not drilling the well there,” Haag says.
ECUA is taking measures to conserve water locally with reclaimed water irrigation systems in the northern portion of Escambia County for Gulf Power and International Paper, and in the southern portion for Santa Rosa Island Authority. Haag says the utilities company is constantly searching for new water conservation techniques.
Another local water concern is the condition of creeks. Wilkins says layers of sediment cover water in some portions of Carpenter Creek, for example.
Four creek revitalization projects, including one for Carpenter Creek, top the Escambia County RESTORE Act Advisory Committee rankings. The county commissioners will determine how the initial $10.6 million will be dispersed among the proposed projects.
Barbara Albrecht, director of the Panhandle Watershed Alliance, blames an increase in construction in the area for decreasing creek water levels and filling them with sediment.
“What’s happening now is we’re building like banshees and we’ve got absolutely no chance for water to hold and (percolation) in these systems,” Albrecht says. “A lot of those creeks in those areas used to be very deep, 10-, 12-, 15-feet deep and be very narrow, so you could actually touch the bank to the creek if you spread your arms out.”
The water supply in Northwest Florida is overflowing in comparison to that in South Florida, but Albrecht fears for future generations throughout the state. She says rapid commercial development along with rising sea levels and the state population increasing by 3 million-plus in each of the last four decades indicates trouble.
Albrecht says there is a lesson to be learned from a declining supply of freshwater in South Florida, but she questions if profit-motivated legislators will bother to pay attention and act in the best interest of Mother Earth.
“If you have (young) children, your children are going to be valuing water more than oil. That’s kind of frightening because nobody sees this coming,” she says. “We’re all considered, ‘Oh, these tree-huggers, blah, blah, blah. They don’t know what they’re talking about.’ No, I don’t have kids, but I’m trying to protect what we have here so that seven generations out, those kids will be able to catch a minnow and a horny toad and learn about native species.
“There’s a handful of us trying to get the word out, but it’s falling on deaf ears, because the people making decisions are all based on money.”
Escambia County
Primary water source: sand-gravel aquifer
2010 population: 297,619
Total water use: 95.38 millions of gallons per day
Projected 2035 population: 319,300
Projected water use: 95.99 mgd
Santa Rosa County
Primary water source: sand-gravel aquifer
2010 population: 151.372
Total water use: 24.76 mgd
Projected 2035 population: 218,800
Projected water use: 95.99 mgd
Source: Northwest Florida Water Management District
WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT AWARDS
Escambia
The District will provide $165,000 to Molina Utilities to replace aging and undersized water lines with upgraded mains and appurtenant structures.
Santa Rosa
The District will provide $151,020 to Moore Creek Mount Carmel Utilities to install a filtration system to remove dieldrin and other contaminants from two sand-and-gravel water supply wells.
The District will provide $204,733 to the Town of Jay for the construction of a looped water system with an existing water main to improve pressures and system reliability.
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