In August 2014, the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition (FKEC.org) published an article about turning wastewater into potable water for reuse and the value, safety and resiliency benefit of that water for reinjection into our Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority supply line. Potable water from wastewater can be cleaner in many ways and less expensive than what FKAA provides originally. Recovered potable water has zero PFAS, a carcinogenic and health harming chemical. FKAA is diligently working to implement a PFAS removal upgrade from the compromised Biscayne Aquifer. Monroe County water has 20 times the limit set by the EPA for PFAS, the highest levels in Florida.
Potable water from wastewater can account for approximately 60% of the water supplied by FKAA originally, with 40% loss from washing cars and watering plants, etc. A reduction of demand on the Biscayne Aquifer is strategically important, a primary water source for several counties in South Florida, strained by 5 to 6 years of seasonal South Florida drought conditions, added to elevating sea levels, saltwater intrusion is projected to affect the FKAA treatment facility by 2050. Producing freshwater from saltwater requires added capital and operational expenditures for filtration and increased energy costs.
Monroe County consumes around 22 million gallons of water per day (mgpd), by saving 60% through reuse, demand reduces to 8-9 mgpd. Privately funded programs can provide the systems for free, with cost and profit recovery from low water reuse fees added. Grant funding can defray the cost partially or completely, with the Levelized Cost of Water (LCOW) nearing $0.006 a gallon according to research on national averages and engineering studies. These options provide for selecting a best fit for our community.
FKAA charges $0.0143 per gallon. With reuse of 60% assumed at $.006 per gallon this is about a 51% reduction or approximately $110,000 a day or $40 million a year savings. To consumers the average household consumption is 233 gallons a day or about 7,000 gallons a month resulting in $36 a month and $432 a year in savings.
“Sludge” is the biosolids part of wastewater. PFAS polluted sludge disposal is burdened with increasing trucking cost and fewer facilities to accept it. New Florida regulations are projected to further increase costs. A privately funded collection and treatment program provide required facility improvements and take all Monroe County sludge, at a reduced cost to the present throw away programs, then convert the sludge into fuel oil, to be distilled for carbon neutral jet fuel, etc. This fuel is “carbon neutral” recycled from human produced hydrocarbons, versus fossil fuels. The provider’s economic viability requires 100% of Monroe County sludge and a centrally located processing facility.
Historically, FKAA has expressed reluctance to Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) from our wastewater treatment plants, leaving disposal as the alternative. It surely can’t be they don’t believe it works. Operational systems globally and in the U.S. have existed for years, Los Angeles produces 130 mgpd of potable water from wastewater, San Diego produces 80 mgpd. The first system in Windhoek, Nambia in 1968 still provides essential fresh water from wastewater and our astronauts have lived for decades using Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) without water being shipped to the space station.
Perhaps it is the “yuck factor”, the astigmatism attached to wastewater, that keeps FKAA from opening the door, or valve, for DPR? FKAA commissions engineered solutions to clean a variety of water sources, but while polluted it’s not called wastewater, or sewerage. Diving deeper, consider the reverse osmosis (RO) systems at Stock Island and Grassy Key, that use nearshore saltwater to produce potable water. Fish, birds, etc., live and excrete waste into our nearshore waters, which are often designated unsafe to swim in due to fecal coliform from animal waste run-off. Biscayne Aquifer contains microbes, pathogens, surface animal waste trickling down, living and dead creatures within the aquifer and millions of septic systems from Central Florida south, leaching into ground water. The term “clean water” starts to become a little murky. Technically, all open water sources are wastewater, until we clean it.
In 2020, Florida passed SB 712, the Clean Waterways Act, and SB 64 in 2021, the Reclaimed Water Act, directing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to implement procedures and standards to enable wastewater to potable reuse and incentivizing this goal with Florida water utilities. Made effective in February 2025, Florida Statute §403.064, requires utilities eliminate routine surface water discharges and transition toward beneficial reuse, with compliance plans required by 2028 and implementation by 2032.
Our state is over the “yuck factor,” the question is, are we? Regulations will require we produce potable water at our wastewater facilities, so will we throw money down the deep injection well drain, or reduce our demand on the Biscayne Aquifer and encourage our neighbors, Miami-Dade, to do the same? Encouragingly, Miami-Dade has started a similar project for their Virginia Key facility.
Let’s hear your opinion. Please participate in a short survey: https://support741.questionpro.com/t/AdMc5Z8w0M. Perhaps the FKAA reluctance is mired in the assumption that people won’t accept DPR water as truly safe potable water.
Please submit public comment with elected officials with FKAA at info@fkaa.com and our organization at support@fkec.org.
Barry Wray, executive director
The Florida Keys Environmental Coalition
