Flagler County leading study of Coquina Coast desalination plant; Volusia and DeLand on board

BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON
Drinking water?Uncertain about the area's future water needs, Volusia County has cautiously expressed interest in a possible desalination plant in Flagler County to treat ocean water for use in homes and businesses.

Local governments consider desalination

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted May 11, 2009 - 8:26:43am

Uncertain about the area's future water needs, Volusia County has cautiously expressed interest in a possible desalination plant in Flagler County to treat ocean water for use in homes and businesses.

Like most local governments searching for the best way to provide water to growing numbers of people, the county also is keeping open its option to share in Seminole County's Yankee Lake plant, which will draw from the St. Johns River.

Several localities are taking part in the preliminary discussions about the Coquina Coast Desalination Project. Coquina Coast, as currently envisioned, may be destined to stay in the talking stage.

Even though the plant may be cost-prohibitive, civic leaders and planners are gathering information deemed critical for tapping the sea as a source of drinking water.

The exact price tag of Coquina Coast is not yet known, but Volusia County Utilities Director Gloria Marwick said she has heard estimates as high as $1 billion.

"This dwarfs anything we have before you in terms of capital cost," Deputy County Manager Mary Anne Connors told the County Council.

Marwick said the Coquina Coast plant may be built to make "upwards of 70 to 80 million gallons a day" suitable for distribution to local utilities.

Of course, the refined water from Coquina Coast will be quite expensive — perhaps too pricey — for both the utilities buying it and the customers paying for it.

How much is too much?

Ed Garland, a spokesman for the St. Johns River Water Management District, said the agency had estimated the cost of the Coquina Coast facility at $600 million. The Water Management District is a partner in the project.

"The district will provide up to $2.5 million in cost-share funding and administrative services for the development of the detailed plan for the desalination facility. We'll also provide up to $5 million for construction," Garland said.

The Coquina Coast price tag could rise or fall, based on the maximum demand for its treated water and the number and length of the distribution pipelines.

"The final cost will depend on the number of partners and how far the water has to travel," Garland said.

Pipelines to run from some point in Flagler County to an interconnect point in Volusia County would add to Volusia's share of the cost.

"The conveyance for us is miles and miles," Marwick said.

Preliminary estimates of the cost of the water from Coquina Coast are markedly higher than the rates now charged for groundwater. For example, 2,000 gallons of water taken from the underground aquifer now costs about $13.43, but the same quantity of water from Coquina Coast may be $40.

The average household usage may be 11,000 gallons per month, and the average bill in Volusia County would be $28.32 for groundwater. If the water comes from Coquina Coast, the bill may be as much as $174.80, according to information compiled by Volusia County Utilities and the Water Management District (WMD).

"I think we need to keep in focus what the financial burden is going to be," Connors said. "I can't in good conscience recommend something that will multiply the average utility bill by seven. ... That's an unconscionable burden."

Project still in its embryonic stage

Despite its likely exorbitant cost, the project may be mandated by state agencies monitoring the water supply and pressuring Volusia and other counties to develop alternative water sources.

So far, Volusia County — via the Water Authority of Volusia — and the City of DeLand have each paid $10,000 to cover part of Coquina Coast's preliminary design. Just the preliminary design, however, will cost an estimated $6.4 million, based on information provided to Volusia County.

The design is currently so embryonic there is no proposed or tentative location for the plant. The facility could be sited anywhere along the ocean shore of Flagler County.

Moreover, planners have not yet even decided whether the Coquina Coast project will be a land-based facility, or if it will rely on ships to refine sea water offshore and pipe it onshore.

Choosing whether to build a land-based or ship-based system is part of Phase I.

"I think they're expecting it to take about a year," Volusia County Utilities Engineer Junos Reed said.

Phase II, Reed said, involves the design of as much as 35 percent of the system, culminating in a decision of whether to go forward with the balance of the design and a commitment to build.

Actual construction would be Phase III, he pointed out.

"After Phase II, they're going to have to decide whether to move ahead." Reed explained.

Plant not likely to be built quickly

Just as Coquina Coast's cost and type of plant are uncertain, as is the number of partners, so is the possible time for starting construction. Volusia County Council Member Jack Hayman said the project would face a host of regulatory hurdles.

"It will take us years to permit anything we want to do," he predicted. Hayman estimated it could take 10 years to secure all the needed permits from the federal and state government agencies.

Hayman represents county government on the board of directors of the Water Authority of Volusia (WAV).

The WAV and the City of DeLand are among a dozen parties discussing Coquina Coast. The other entities are the City of Bunneli, the Dunes Community Development District, the City of Flagler Beach, Flagler County, the City of Leesburg, the City of Mount Dora, Lake County, Marion County, the City of Palm Coast, and St. Johns County.

Besides looking at Coquina Coast, of course, Volusia County may become a player in the Yankee Lake water-treatment facilities being planned by Seminole County. Volusia reluctantly expressed tentative interest in the Yankee Lake project, despite concerns about the environmental effects of drawing from the river.

"Over my dead body," vowed former County Council Member Clay Henderson, reacting to the WMD's pressure on local governments to draw water from the river.

Issues rising out of the sea

Unlike the Yankee Lake project, Coquina Coast is not included in Volusia County's growth-management plan as a water supply. County Manager James Dinneen advised against it.

"This whole Coquina thing is anti-environmental ... an alternative no citizen could afford," Dinneen said.

One of the environmental considerations is what to do with the salt and other solid material taken from the sea water.

Disposal of the desalination residue will likely be regulated by federal and state agencies.

To head off or at least lessen the need for refining sea or river water, Volusia officials are also pondering the use of more reclaimed water for irrigation — along with encouraging people to reduce their water consumption.

"We ought to be doing the conservation and reuse first," Dinneen said.

County officials are preparing an ordinance mandating water conservation and enforcement of limits on sprinkling. The county is also interested in encouraging the use of stormwater and treated effluent now going into the Halifax River for irrigation.

As they look at the bigger picture of water supplies and demands in the future, county leaders say they want to work more closely with the WMD. They also want the WMD board and administrators to be more sensitive to Volusia's concerns, such as the hazards of drawing water from the St. Johns River.

"I don't think St. Johns [the WMD] is playing fairly in the county," County Council Member Pat Northey said. "We have a real fundamental issue on water in this county."

Assistant County Manager Connors suggested, too, the county should press the state agency to pay more attention to recycling water, before ordering localities to turn to the river or sea.

"Reclaimed water is a viable source," Connors said.

Still, preliminary discussions about Coquina Coast continue, just in case the sea must become a water source in the years ahead.

— al@beacononlinenews.com

Comment on this article

Commenting is closed for this article.

If you would like to contribute a letter to the editor, please click here.

Did you find this story interesting or informative? Subscribe to The DeLand-Deltona Beacon to read more stories by Al Everson, along with others from our award-winning writers. Subscribe now!