Walton/Okaloosa/Santa Rosa
Regional Utility Authority
The Regional Utility Authority (RUA) was created in 1999 and is comprised of the Counties of Walton, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa and the municipalities of Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Gulf Breeze, Mary Esther, and Niceville. RUA was formed as a means to address water supply needs and protection of water resources on a regional level.
The prime function of the RUA is to ensure future water supply and to provide for adequate solid waste and treated sewage effluent disposal.
PROJECTS
The Northwest Florida Water Management District Salinity Transport Model Project
The RUA funded this project. The model allows NWFWMD to simulate the movement of salt-water in the Floridan aquifer system. The model included the creation of a set of parameters, battery conditions and internal hydraulic properties that will result in a reasonable facsimile of the predevelopment of the salinity distribution in the Floridan aquifer system.
Regional Water Supply Plan
Background: The water supply plan was required under the Florida Statutes and encompassed a number of purposes including health documentation, history of the decision making which began in the late 1970's and it keeps a consist vision, documentation which helps to define strategies. Long term planning guards against crisis situation and management. The long-term plan involves technical, economical and environmental concerns.
Florida legislation established the Water Supply Sustainability Program and an inclusive trust fund. Projects that are identified as an alternate water supply development are eligible for as much as 40% state funding assistance. The governing board does have the option to waive all or part of the local match for requirement for financially disadvantaged small local governments (usually rural areas).
The plan provides funding for the three county area that includes Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton as well as financial assistance for alternate water supply development. The plan/projections shows concern for the traditional sustainability and viability over the next 20 years.
The plan looks at concerns over the amount of water available from the coastal wells that need to be developed. The NWFWMD has required these utilities, because they are on the fringe of the this interface anyway and they have problems to begin with, to curtail the Floridan Aquifer water use and future use has been moved to the Sand and Gravel Aquifer. Since this time water levels have come up and improvements in saltwater intrusion have occurred because the gradient is not as steep as it was.
Current: The NWFWMD reported that the Governing Board has approved the Regional Water Supply Plan. Every five years NWFWMD update the Plan for Region 2, which includes Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties.
The update is based on demand projections and whether they can see what the future sources of water will be. The Plan horizon update is out to 2025, and the NWFWMD is in the process of extending those projections to 2030.
In Santa Rosa County they're dealing with the sand and gravel aquifer, as opposed to the Floridan aquifer. Basically, all the present needs are met with current permits, but beyond the 2020 projections, they're focusing on re-use water - the beneficial re-use of water, that is, reducing potable water demands on the aquifers and other sources. Their goal is to gain 5,000,000 gallons of reclaimed water a day by 2010.
South Walton Utility Co. (SWUC), Inc. Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility State Revolving Fund
The project is for the expansion of an existing tertiary treatment facility with a permitted capacity of 2.5 MGC maximum monthly averages daily flow (MMADF) to 4.5 MGD MMADF advanced wastewater treatment facility. The expansion includes increased utilization of reuse, Rapid Infiltration Basins (RIBs), and wetlands for effluent disposal. More specifically, effluent reuse and disposal will include a combination of irrigation through existing golf courses and residential homes, rapid infiltration basins, and emergency wet weather discharge through an outfall into an existing FDOT ditch.
In order to pay for the necessary upgrades to the WWTF, SWUC submitted a proposal to receive funding through the FDEP State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan program. The request for inclusion for the SRF loan will be submitted on behalf of SWUC through an interlocal agreement with the RUA. This Interlocal agreement was entered into on September 5, 2007. In addition, the SWUC property, approximately 6.43-acres has been tentatively leased to RUA, pending approval of the loan proposal. The RUA will remain leaseholders of the property for the life of the SRF if funding is approved. This provides reasonable assurance that the RUA will not be held responsible or accountable if the loan is not paid in full or defaults.
SWUC is requesting a loan of $13.3 million of the possible $16.96 million project. This represents approximately 78% of the total cost. Repayment of the SRF loan will be through revenue generated through billing to the wastewater customers of SWUC over the life of the loan. The remaining cost to complete the projects, as well as financing the wetland disposal portion of the project, will be obtained from wastewater connection fees and reserves on hand. The wastewater connection fees to be collected are estimated at $3.7 million. Capital reserves on hand for use by SWUC are approximately $5.1 million.
Destin Water Users (DWU), Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility State Revolving Fund
Destin Water Users, Inc. (DWU) provides water, sewer and reclaimed water service to most of the City of Destin and a section of the unincorporated portion of Okaloosa County to the east of the City of Destin. Over the past several years, the DWU service area has experienced considerable growth that has resulted in the need for substantial upgrades to the wastewater and reclaimed water systems to meet current and future demands.
Currently DWU's Water Reclamation Facility produces 100 percent beneficial reuse. In order for DWU to continue to distribute 100 percent of the beneficial reuse produced by the Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) to its customers, improvements to DWU's existing reclaimed water system will need to be designed and constructed. These improvements include replacement of older, undersized transfer pumps in the reclaimed water pump station, additional reclaimed water lines for transmission and booster pump stations to insure adequate pressures across the system. In addition to these improvements, DWU will also need to add additional reject storage to their system in which current flows limits their permitted wastewater to reuse production due to deficiencies in reject storage. Several of DWU's lift stations, force mains and gravity sewer lines are no longer adequate to handle the current and/or anticipated flows from sections of the DWU service area which have grown substantially.
As with SWUC, in order to pay for the necessary upgrades to the WWTF, DWU submitted a proposal to receive funding through the FDEP State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan program. The request for inclusion for the SRF loan will be submitted on behalf of DWU through an interlocal agreement with the RUA. This Interlocal agreement was entered into on April 23, 2008. However, due to State budget financial constraints, it probably won't be until another four (4) years for DWU to be eligible, provided they get on the funding list this year (2009).