According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the city is promoting the concept of reuse through a collaborative “demonstration project to explore what it would take and how much it would cost to treat a portion of the city’s wastewater stream to the higher standard drinking water, instead of discharging it to the Halifax River.”[1]
In an interview with the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Hardy Smith, Daytona’s government relations administrator reminded readers why the City is looking at reuse. “Daytona Beach is about capped out on the amount of water it’s allowed to withdraw from city wells under the permit from the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD).”[2]
According to the city’s preliminary research, the financial viability of operating a potable reuse system will be competitive to treating brackish groundwater, and highly more cost effective than desalination. Beyond the cost implications, the city believes that this pilot project will be critical in collecting information that can then be used to construct state regulations governing DPR.[3]
The biggest challenge the city faces, is changing the perception and the emotional reaction people may have to the idea that treated wastewater can be used to supplement potable water supplies. Despite the fact that all water on earth is continuously recycled, the concept of treating wastewater and placing it directly into the potable water supply without the aid of an environmental buffer (river or reservoir) often produces an adverse reaction. To combat this, the city plans on an extensive outreach campaign as part of the pilot study.
If Daytona’s project succeeds, the city will join several others across the country that sees DPR as a long-term solution to dwindling potable water supplies. As the study prepares to commence, all eyes throughout the state of Florida will be fixated on Daytona Beach as they prepare to introduce the first DPR municipal based system in the state.
[1] Pulver, Dinah. Daytona Explores Turning Wastewater Into Drinking Water. The Daytona Beach News-Journal, March 26, 2017. Web. http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20170326/daytona-explores-turning-wastewater-into-drinking-water
[2] Pulver. Daytona Explores Turning Wastewater Into Drinking Water.http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20170326/daytona-explores-turning-wastewater-into-drinking-water
[3] Pulver. Daytona Explores Turning Wastewater Into Drinking Water.http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20170326/daytona-explores-turning-wastewater-into-drinking-water
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