From Conflict to Collaboration

摘要

The Florida Governmental Utility Authority (FGUA) is made up of 84 utility systems across 14 counties in the state. Systems range from a few connections to a few thousand connections and each comes with its own unique set of challenges. Recently, in the North Fort Myers system, the FGUA was faced with the problem of excess reuse water. The FGUA Del Prado Water Reclamation Facility (Del Prado) produces high quality reclaimed water that is then is delivered directly to wholesale customers - including the City of Cape Coral - for irrigation. Problems occur when excessive rain, along with decreased demand for irrigation water, causes the facility to have more reclaimed water than customers can use. Although an existing injection well is in place to provide supplemental disposal of reuse water, there are times when the amount of reuse water exceeds the combined demand plus disposal capacity of the well. This meant that excess reclaimed water was discharged onto the ground at the reclamation facility in cases of excessive rain events, creating a compliance issue. This presentation highlights the proposed solution by the FGUA to deal with the excess reuse water and meet Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) regulations, the challenges that occurred throughout the process and the final resolution to the situation.