Kudos to Orange Park and Clay County Utility Authority (CCUA) for being the first in northeast Florida to share wastewater between utilities, thus increasing opportunities for reclaimed water use, preserving fresh drinking water supplies, and reducing wastewater discharges and nutrients flowing into the St. Johns River.
Orange Park on June 2 transferred 937,000 gallons of wastewater to CCUA that CCUA is providing to its customers for landscape irrigation throughout Clay County. Providing the wastewater to CCUA instead of discharging it into the river will:
• Reduce nitrogen loading into the river by 47,840 pounds annually.
• Offset about 200 million gallons of water that is currently withdrawn from the Floridan aquifer each year for irrigation.
CCUA invested $23.7 million and Orange Park invested $10 million on pipeline and wastewater plant improvements to make the project possible. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and St. Johns River Water Management District provided financial and regulatory assistance for the project.
Clay Today recently published a good overview of the project.
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2 comments:
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I know it sounds good to some people that we are saving poluted [?? TN] water from going in the river, but don't forget that the TN will now be going into aquifer recharge and raising higher Springs Nutrient levels. In fact, already the proposed EPA & DEP level of 0.35 mg/l for Springs is already lower that about 2/3 of Fl. springs. More Springs algae rather than the SJR ??
As a second note the money spent here [$23.7 M + $10 M] of $33.7 M means that the Capital cost for that 200 MGY is more than $60 per gallon. A number that is about 4 times even the cost for oceanwater desainization.
Are all you people gone crazy ??
Best Regards, Joe
Thank you for your questions. The improvements to the Orange Park facilities alone will reduce the town’s total nitrogen contribution to the river by 60 percent. Only a small amount, if any, of the total nitrogen load contained in the effluent is going directly to the aquifer because most nutrients are captured as bio-solids within the wastewater treatment facility. Plus, turf grass and other plants use the nitrogen before it can infiltrate below the root zone. The cost is far less than what you’ve suggested, as the financial investment includes construction, operation and maintenance, not just funding for the wastewater that was initially transferred. The capital cost is approximately $2 per 1,000 gallons.
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