by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
At Thursday’s meeting of the Jacksonville Waterways Commission, JEA water/planning specialist Brad Russell talked about the utility’s current and future use of reclaimed water. After a PowerPoint presentation and nearly a half-hour of questions from the Commission, one thing became very clear: if Jacksonville and the surrounding areas that JEA serves don’t start increasing the use of reclaimed water, there is going to be a major shortage of drinking water in the not-so-distant future.
“The growing population has put a stress on the aquifer,” said Russell, adding most of that stress is east and south of the river where a majority of the development along the St. Johns River is taking place. “Reclaimed water is part of the solution. It’s near drinking quality, but it’s still non-potable.”
Reclaimed water’s best use is for irrigation. According to Russell, JEA uses about 7.2 million gallons of reclaimed water per day across its service area. That’s up from 5.9 million gallons a day in early 2006, but far below JEA’s current capacity of 25 million gallons a day. The problem, says Russell, is not enough of the area is equipped to pump reclaimed water and not enough JEA customers are receptive to the idea. The result is the loss of millions of gallons of usable water a day. Instead, residents and businesses are using drinking water for irrigation by the millions of gallons a day.
“The biggest potential for reclaimed water use is in St. Johns (County),” said Russell. “They do not have an ordinance like here in Duval County, but we are working with St. Johns County on that. The reclaimed water use in northern St. Johns County comes from Duval County, mostly the Mandarin area.”
In May 2006, the City passed an ordinance encouraging the use of reclaimed water. The ordinance also encourages the curtailment of the discharge of treated effluent from wastewater treatment plants to waterways such as the St. Johns River. Ultimately, water conservation is at the root of the ordinance.
What the ordinance doesn’t cover, however, is the enforcement of any law. While JEA can install new infrastructure and retrofit older neighborhoods, it cannot force anyone to hook up to reclaimed water lines or use them. In fact, the City itself is one of the most infrequent users of reclaimed water for irrigation.
According to Russell, outside of JEA-owned properties, Ed Austin Park in Arlington is the only City-owned property that uses reclaimed water. Former City Council member Lynette Self said it took several years to get JEA and the City on the same page regarding Ed Austin Park.
“It was a six-year project, but it was worth it,” said Self, who is a former chair of the Waterways Commission and currently sits on the Commission as a member from the private sector.
Russell said JEA is willing to work with area developers to become reclaimed water customers. City agencies such as the Jacksonville Port Authority and the Jacksonville Aviation Authority are also major users of water. However, said Russell, JEA has not found any “opportunities yet to use reclaimed water.”
“We are trying to retrofit a county and that will take time and money,” said Council member and Commission chair Bill Bishop.
With the recent news that Central Florida is looking to tap millions of gallons a day from the St. Johns River and one of its tributaries, Russell stressed that now is the time for JEA, the City, the local corporate community and residents to work together to use reclaimed water as an asset rather than a liability that’s pumped into the river. This, said Russell, will save water for the future and reduce the amount of nitrogen that is discharged into the river — another side effect of allowing reclaimed water to go unused. JEA currently allocates for about 59 tons of nitrogen discharge per month into the river.
Also at the meeting:
• Commission member Susan Grandin reminded Commissioners about her Oct. 22 workshop at City Hall. The meeting starts at 3 p.m. and is open the public. During the meeting, her subcommittee will take public input regarding working waterfronts and access to the river.
Grandin said the committee will look at the proposal to allow tax deferments for working waterfront businesses.
“It’s an interesting concept that may not be fruitful,” said Grandin.
• St. Johns Riverkeeper Neal Armingeon addressed the Commission in response to last month’s presentation from Kirby Green of the St. Johns River Water Management District.
“Suffice to say, we are very concerned,” said Armingeon. “Central Florida is running out of water. In five years, they will be out of drinking water.”
Green told the Commission that Central Florida is looking to use about 262 million gallons a day. Armingeon isn’t buying that figure.
“Let me assure you, that will not be the final number. That number will not meet the needs of Orlando and Central Florida,” he said, adding that six meetings to discuss the issue have been scheduled, none of which are in Duval County.
• Dr. Gerard Pinto of Jacksonville University gave the last manatee update of the year. For the first time since 2001, there were single digits (6) in manatee deaths in Duval County. Last year, there were 13. Twice since 1976 there have been only three while the high of 20 came in 1989.
JEA reclaimed water by the numbers
• 303,074 water customers
• 227,850 sewer customers
• 85 reclaimed water customers
• 910 square miles of service area
• 3,610 miles of water distribution
• 88 miles of reclaimed water distribution
• 18 major water plants, 17 smaller water plants
• 7 regional and 11 non-regional wastewater treatment facilities (WWFT)
• 6 regional and 2 non-regional WWFTs capable of producing reclaimed water