Aquifer Storage and Recovery: The Solution to South Florida’s Water Scarcity?

1. Aquifer Storage and Recovery: The Solution to South Florida’s Water Scarcity? Jessica Pollock Water Resources Fall 2005

2. Why need for ASR? • Everyday, 1.7 billion gallons of water are diverted from the Everglades and drained off both east and west coasts • This water historically flowed through the Everglades recharging the Biscayne and Floridan Aquifers • Not enough water for domestic/municipal, agricultural, and ecosystem

4. Why? continued • South Florida population expected to double within 40 years • ASR does not require large land acreage, as does water storage areas • Ecosystems suffer • Florida Bay, Everglades, saline coastline environments

5. What is ASR? • Treatment of water to drinking standards • Pumping of water into Floridan Aquifer • Later recovery of stored water • Has been used in Florida since 1983 • Will take 20 years to complete • Will be largest ASR project in world

6. Floridan Aquifer has natural salty brine • Freshwater pumped into aquifer will have zone of mixing • Freshwater will create a “bubble”

7. Plans • Water from ‘wet season’ is to be stored for further usage in ‘dry season’ – also tourist season • Water storage is planned for multi-year usage • Wells capacity of 5 MGD to equal 1.6 to 1.7 billion GD pumping capacity

8. Largest ASR project ever undertaken • 3 pilot projects currently ongoing since 2000 • Pilot projects will continue until 2008 • If results successful, larger construction will take place

10. Concerns • Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) relies heavily on ASR success for restoration • CERP expects 70% recovery rate, may be too optimistic • 5 MGD wells – 2 to 5 times higher than currently used in Florida • Physical and Chemical properties should be expected to vary at each site – water as well

11. Concerns • East coast wells seem more productive than West coast wells • Treated water injected into natural brine – chemical interactions, potential release? • Will water be potable when recovered? • Multi-year use has never been done in FL • Fractured bedrock • Regional changes in flow patterns • DIW of wastewater

12. Advantages • Acts as above ground reservoir, without the evaporation • Requires less land

13. More Advantages • Natural Aquifers – natural surface water recharges • Will allow for more steady flow in Everglades – species rebound? • More environmentally sound and cost effective than alternatives • Will provide flood protection after many ACOE provisions taken out

14. The “New” Everglades

15. The Everglades Restoration is a “microcosm of the entire environmental movement.” - largest ASR project in the world -largest constructed wetland in the world

16. Sources: “Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan Aquifer Storage and Recovery Program.” Everglades Plan. 6 December 2005. <http://www.evergladesplan.org/ facts_info/syutkma_asr.cfm> Dugger, Aubrey. “The South Florida Everglades Restoration Project.” 1996. 31 Oct 2001. <http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/maidment/ grad/degger/GLADES/glades.html> “Large-scale Ecosystem Restoration Initiatives: Protecting and Restoring the South Florida Everglades.” Northeast Midwest Institute. 02 Oct 2005. <http://www.nemw.org/everglades.htm> “Review of Aquifer Storage and Recovery in the Floridan Aquifer System of Southern Florida.” United States Geological Survey. 2004. 6 December 2005. <http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2004/3128/pdf/fs-2004-3128-Reese.pdf> U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District; South Florida Water Management District. “Environmental and Economical Equity Program Management Plan: Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.” August 2001. 20 Oct 2005. <www.evergladesplan.org/pm/ pm_docs/eee/exec_summary_aug2001.pdf>