by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
A regional water management group has identified Jacksonville’s Northside as a potential site to build a plant designed to turn seawater into drinking water.
JEA’s Northside Power Plant is one of five Northeast Florida sites being considered as a base for a proposed St. Johns Water Management District seawater demineralization facility. The technology is being examined as a possible answer to water shortfalls as development strains the current supply.
In a previous interview, Mayor John Peyton suggested demineralization as an alternative to a South Florida raid on the relatively abundant water supply north of Interstate 4, which runs from Tampa to Daytona Beach. More than 80 percent of the state’s available water sits north of that line, while more than 80 percent of the state’s consumption occurs to its south.
“We’re sitting on a peninsula; we’re surrounded by water; we’ll never run out of water,” said Peyton in the October interview. “The question is: How much do you want to pay for it?”
The cost of so–called desalination (because the process removes salt from seawater, either through evaporation or straining) has prevented its widespread use. Economics were among the key criteria considered by the SJWMD in selecting the finalists from 20 possible sites.
Of the five finalists, the Northside plant was judged to be able to produce water at comparably cheap rates. Among the three plants with larger treatment capacities, (Indian River Power Plant and Cape Canaveral Power Plant are the others) the Northside plant is estimated to produce water at $2.57 per thousand gallons. A recent study by the Southwest Florida Water Management District said costs of about $2.50 per thousand gallons would be competitive with existing sources.
Currently, almost all of the region’s water needs are supplied from groundwater, according to the SJRWMD’s study on the feasibility of demineralization. The study projects portions of the region’s groundwater supply to reach sustainable limits before 2020. Unless alternative sources are found before then, continued withdrawal of groundwater would “result in unacceptable impacts to wetlands, lake levels, spring flows or groundwater quality,” according to the study.
It reads: “Alternative water sources will be necessary to supply the increasing demands for water.”
Another concern surrounding the technology relates to the disposal of salt left over by the process. The study pointed to new technologies that “appear to have the potential” to reduce the cost and environmental impact of disposing of the byproduct. The salt could be used commercially, according to the study.