This follows up on yesterday's 2 water posts. Okay, let's say we stop dumping our sewer water in the ocean. Where exactly should the treated water from the outfall pipe go? To the wellfields? To Everglades or Biscayne National Park? One of our problems is we have a transmissive aquifer which creates another unknown: Will the water stay where it is discharged?
Another important question is:
How clean should the water be? Suppose it is treated to meet standards - well folks, there ARE NO STANDARDS for those pharmaceuticals better known as EPOCS ("emerging pollutants of concern"). EPOCS are defined as those compounds with no standards. We wrote about the AP story on the EPOC problem plaguing cities yesterday. If we clean the water correctly, EPOC's included, who is going to pay the hefty price tag for this advanced treatment?
Does anyone think that the Vile Natacha Seijas is going to let the County spring for the humongous extra amounts for reverse osmosis for all 300-400 million gallons per day? She doesn't want those water bills increased for voters (they might revolt) and this is a very large amount of water to be treated. Will the county treat the sewage water for EPOCs even though federal and state law does not require it? And people, be aware that enormous amounts of electricity is needed to run the reverse osmosis, which of course means more CO2 or nukes.
And then, there is also that pesky waste stream from the treatment process, which will be more concentrated. The stuff they are able to remove through treatment doesn't disappear - where does the FDEP want that waste stream to go?
Anyone have any answers? Should these questions be addressed before there is a mandate to stop putting the wastewater offshore? Should it be done in a comprehensive, thoughtful way with full public involvement or should we just do this in the usual stupid manner we do everything in Miami Dade?
2 comments:
If the aquifer is free of contaminants, it would seem the reuse water would add them if not cleaned to the correct standards, but then, what are the correct standards? We do need a smart approach to this.
Uh, the 300 million a day going to tide via the ocean outfalls is only 24% of wastewater in the Tri-county area. The rest (almost 1 billion gallons) gets deep well injected. That's where the concern of vertical migration comes in and the contamination of the aquifer.
That's a big part of the this close the ocean outfalls push (which needs to be done). If it simply swtiches to more deep well injection it over pressurizes the lower substrate making the aquifer more susceptible to vertical migrating contaminants.
I'm not sold yet on ground water recharge with reuse water BUT the big argument for it is "you keep a full aquifer - you keep salt water intrusion at bay and prevent vertical migration from below by having sufficient downward pressure from water up top".
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