By John Pacenti
The Florida Legislature passed a law in 2008 to protect fragile coral and marine life off South Florida’s coastline. The law directed municipalities — except in extreme weather events — to eliminate the release of treated wastewater through ocean outfalls by the end of 2025.
It’s been a long time coming, but Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach say they are meeting the mandate.
The South County municipalities got there through different methods, though. Boynton Beach and Delray Beach jointly own and operate the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Facility and utilize two deep-injection wells. Boca Raton, on the other hand, has found a home for treated wastewater in the city’s many lakes.
The cities also have reuse programs that provide treated effluent for residential or commercial irrigation purposes.
Delray Beach and Boynton Beach’s first deep-injection well went online in 2009, but it was the second well, which started working in mid-June, that will really help those municipalities redirect the effluent that doesn’t go to golf courses, homes or businesses.
The second well came at a taxpayer cost of about $8 million.
“We are in a much better position than other coastal communities, because during the high rain, typically they don’t have any other outlet,” said Delray Beach Utilities Director Hassan Hadjimiry.
“If you didn’t have this deep well and, let’s say, we get 20 million gallons extra flow to the treatment plant because of rain, then that would have gone to the ocean outfall,” he said.
Changing old habits
The 2008 legislation was named after environmentalist and Everglades advocate Leah Schad. It prohibited the construction of new domestic wastewater ocean outfalls and required that any effluent that is discharged meet new standards. It also created the 2025 timeline to eliminate discharges from outflows — except as emergency backups — and required cities to use 60% of the effluent for “useful purposes.”
“Ocean outfall legislation represents an amazing collaborative effort between environmental, scientific and political communities,” said Delray Beach City Commissioner Juli Casale. “We are fortunate our Utilities Director Hassan Hadjimiry had the foresight to move forward with a second deep-injection well, ensuring our ability to meet ocean outfall compliance by 2025.”
The outfall for Delray Beach and Boynton Beach is a large pipe that reaches about a mile into the ocean near Atlantic Avenue. The plant itself is at 1801 N. Congress Ave. in Delray Beach and treats about 17 million gallons per day.
Kent Edwards, who was Delray Beach’s sustainability officer before moving over earlier this year to Boca Raton, said once the effluent is sent to the netherworld through deep-well injection, it is gone for good. “It will never get back to the surficial aquifer,” he said.
Edwards said the misapprehension about the 2008 legislation is that it would eliminate outfalls for treated wastewater completely.
Doug Levine, plant manager for the wastewater treatment facility, said that the last time the South Central outfall was used was in September, because of heavy rainfall associated with Hurricane Milton. However, he added, that would not have been the case if the second deep-injection well had been online.
The problem with outfalls
Treated wastewater is a cheap irrigation alternative for golf courses and communities with large green spaces — it even acts as a fertilizer with high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. But those pollutants can harm the marine environment and coral reefs, causing fish die-offs and loss of coral diversity, according to the Reef Resilience Network.
“Florida’s outfalls are threatening its coral reefs, which have seen increased rates of disease in recent years,” the organization states on its website. “For instance, stony coral tissue loss disease has been reported across more than 300 miles of coral reefs in Florida, from the southeastern coast all the way down to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas National Park.”
Casale — who is also on the South Central facility’s board — said, “This legislation enjoys widespread support because it focuses on creating a healthier, more resilient ocean environment.”
She said the two deep-injection wells have a capacity of more than 35 million gallons per day, “providing a sustainable solution for excess flow during high rainfall seasons.”
“Prior to the installation of the Deep Injection Well 2, excess treated influent had to be diverted to the ocean outfall,” Casale said. “However, with the construction of Deep Injection Well 2, we have a sustainable alternative to ocean disposal.”
Lakes instead of wells
In Boca Raton, Utilities Director Chris Helfrich said the city is meeting the state’s mandate on reducing use of ocean outflows that jig and jag from the plant on Glades Road down to Palmetto Park Road and into the ocean.
The city right now is at “zero outfall,” sending any unused effluent to the man-made lakes to the west, Helfrich said. “There are a lot of lakes,” he said. “We’d rather put it into lakes than to send it to the outfalls.”
Boca Raton became a 100% reuse city in 2018, using the reclaimed water for irrigation for 1,700 residential customers and multiple golf courses, he said.
Helfrich said deep-injection wells are very expensive. “We think we made a good strategic move,” he said.
There has also been a rethinking when it comes to treated wastewater since it was seen as the bogeyman of the reef some 17 years ago.
“It’s kind of evolved that reclaimed water is acceptable, and reclaimed water is something that is a resource,” Helfrich said. “It’s a resource, and people appreciate it. Now, the golf courses really appreciate it.”
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