By Rich Pollack
Boca Raton’s innovative use of wastewater, its creative billing of reclaimed water customers, and its use of state-of-the-art monitoring technology are gaining national attention.
The city’s Utilities Department was recently named one of 65 departments nationally to be designated a Utility of the Future Today by the Water Environment Federation and several partner organizations.
The award, according to Boca’s Director of Utility Services Chris Helfrich, focused on the city’s reclaimed water program, which offers highly treated wastewater effluent to golf courses, other organizations and homes for irrigation.
“This award recognizes our use of cutting-edge technology to determine what we can do to make our system better,” Helfrich said.
The award recognizes Boca Raton’s designation as a 100% water-reuse facility, meaning that all treated effluent is used for irrigation, except in unusual circumstances. That results in several environmental benefits, including a recharging of the aquifer as the reclaimed water percolates through the ground.
By repurposing wastewater effluent for irrigation, the utility can avoid discharging the treated water into the ocean or going through the costly process of deep-well injection. At the same time, Boca Raton is able to conserve potable drinking water that might be otherwise used for irrigation.
The city estimates that it saves about 4.1 million gallons of water every year as a result of the reuse program.
Helfrich says that about 13 million gallons a day of reclaimed water goes to seven golf courses in the Boca Raton area, and is used for irrigation for the courses and some landscaping at the Boca Raton Resort & Club and the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club. Reclaimed water helps irrigate lawns and landscaping at about 1,600 homes, including most east of the Intracoastal Waterway and south of Camino Real.
To oversee the water flow, Boca Raton uses a high-tech telemetry system that can monitor pressure in water pipes remotely and can ensure that water levels in golf course storage ponds aren’t too high or too low.
Boca Raton’s utility was also recognized for its innovative billing system for reclaimed water. Rather than charge its largest users a per gallon rate, the utility enters into a 10-year contract with the user where it charges a fixed monthly rate and in exchange, the user receives a 40% discount.
“This was something we brainstormed internally,” Helfrich says, adding that he isn’t aware of any other utility using a similar billing system.
With the billing system in place, customers know what their monthly bills will be and the utility knows how much revenue to expect from those users on a monthly and annual basis.
Helfrich said city leaders have been supportive of the initiatives and have been forward thinking when it comes to the water and wastewater treatment needs in the community.
Since 2016, the Utilities of the Future Today program has celebrated the achievements of water utilities that transform from the traditional wastewater treatment system to a resource recovery center. It also recognizes utilities that serve as leaders in the overall sustainability and resilience of the communities they serve.Ú
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