JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- How would you feel if you knew your drinking water was once sewage? That’s already the case for people all over the world, it just hasn’t happened in Florida, until now.
JEA is diving in head first with a pilot program co-funded by the state to start that purification process at their Buckman Wastewater Facility in Jacksonville.
JEA's water comes from Florida’s aquifer. It’s a valuable water supply that’s becoming limited as the state grows. That’s why the utility company wants to expand our sources of water. They have been meeting with other utility companies around the country who have started a similar program using wastewater.
"We're not reclaiming water to irrigate lawns and gardens, we're reclaiming water to potable standards, that’s drinking water from our sewer plants," said Paul McElroy, JEA's CEO.
Reclaimed water is already being used for irrigation in Jacksonville and neighboring counties.
“We are working with the state right now, the water management district, in looking at a highest and best use for our sewer water effluent, right now we are treating to what is known as reclaimed status and it’s being used as irrigation. It’s being cleaned up quite a bit to get to that level."
The pilot project would take that even further to bring it to drinking standards. It could take two years but the state is helping out with the cost.
"Cost estimates to get that affluent to an area of town that needs it is very expensive, it’s 2, 3, to $400 million a piping," said McElroy.
Piping is one option to bring the reclaimed water to communities, or they can inject it back into the aquifer to keep it sustained, like rainwater already does, refilling the aquifer naturally.
According to Jay Caddy, the manager for the Navy's water and wastewater facilities, he says this is an environmentally friendly process that will help save water for future generations.
"If we can reduce the amount of water we’re taking out of the aquifer that’s a good thing," said Caddy. "The public perception thing is going to be the biggest hurdle, getting people to buy off that it’s a good thing, that it’s safe."
NAS JAX uses reclaimed water for irrigation, but Caddy says he'd been open to exploring new uses, like drinking water.
"The aquifer is getting drawn down rapidly, more people are moving into Florida."
Here is some information released by JEA regarding the wastewater process:
- JEA’s water comes from the Floridan aquifer. This valuable water supply is becoming limited as the state grows. As we continue to grow, we will need to expand sources beyond traditional groundwater supplies. This will include investment in alternative water sources, as well as increased focus on conservation.
- As a result, JEA is conducting a forward-thinking research and development project to evaluate technologies for producing purified water using highly treated wastewater as a source. Potable reuse is occurring at numerous places throughout the world. In the U.S., communities use potable reuse to expand their water supply – usually via aquifer recharge or through the augmentation of reservoirs.
- The JEA research and development project is a first step to investigate alternative sources of water to support growth in our community and protect the water resources of the region.
- Previous innovations that JEA has adopted include solar farming and residential solar with battery storage, nutrient removal, smart technology, amongst others.
- Background
- Many people do not realize all water is reused. The concept of “one water”, in which water is used more than once, recognizes that the water in our rivers, oceans, and aquifers has been used before and will be used again.
- At JEA and many places in Florida, highly treated wastewater is already being used by our customers for outdoor irrigation – called reclaimed water. Florida is a leader in the U.S. in delivering reclaimed water as an alternative water supply to ensure a more sustainable future and meet increasing demands as the population and economy grow.
- Advances in technology and limited surface and groundwater supplies are moving water suppliers toward concepts of fully reusing water. Purified water is one way to accomplish this.
- The R&D phase is a joint effort between JEA and the St. Johns River Water Management District. The project is testing two leading technologies for producing purified water at two regional water reclamation facilities.