The Lower Keys is a little less reliant these days on the past-its-prime pipeline that brings drinking water from the mainland to the island chain. Occasional cracks in that crumbling pipeline drop the water pressure inside the pipe, leading to water shutoffs or precautionary boil-water advisories. That pipeline is currently being replaced in a massive construction project that will continue for years.
But as of May 5, the Lower Keys can produce 4 million gallons a day of drinking water.
The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority on May 5 dedicated the newly rebuilt Kermit H. Lewin Reverse Osmosis Facility on Stock island, which removes the salt from seawater through reverse osmosis to produce safe drinking water.
Gov. Ron DeSantis stopped by the Stock Island ribbon-cutting to tout the $48 million facility, which was constructed with $30 million in state funds and $18 million in local funding from the FKAA.
“After Hurricane Irma, in 2017, damaged the former desalination plant, it proved that the Keys needed a reliable backup drinking water supply,” DeSantis told the crowd that had gathered for the ribbon-cutting at the plant.
Since the start of the COVID pandemic, the Keys’ demand for drinking water has increased and surpassed the amount the island chain is allocated from the mainland aquifer that comes through the pipeline, David Hackworth, FKAA director of engineering told the Keys Weekly. “While we had initially planned to only use the new facility in emergencies, now we’re going to operate it continuously at 25%.”
Hackworth credited FKAA executive director Greg Veliz with changing the philosophy of the local water utility, which for decades was opposed to spending the money on reverse osmosis.
“Then, in Hurricane Irma, when the Keys lost water, it was proof that we needed this.”
The aqueduct authority is building a similar facility on Crawl Key near Marathon. The capacity will be the same 4 million gallons per day, with construction expected to be finished in 2028.
