Drink up: Stuart to debut better-tasting water on Friday with $28 million treatment system
STUART — The city's award-winning water will be tasting even better.
A $28.1 million water-treatment system is expected to go online Friday, sending a new blend to customers and visitors within a month.
"I believe the taste is going to get a little better," said plant Superintendent Mike Woodside.
The new system, built at the city's water plant on Palm Beach Road, will fulfill two purposes.
"The (reverse osmosis) facility was built to reduce the risk of PFAS/PFOS contamination," explained Peter Kunen, director of the city Utilities and Engineering Department. PFAS and PFOS are harmful, potentially cancer-causing chemicals, technically known as perfluorinated alkylated substances.
The reverse osmosis plant also was "built to treat water from the Floridan aquifer for drinking water production," Kunen added.
The Floridan aquifer is a much deeper water source than what the city has used in the past and is less susceptible to contamination.
"This provides us with a measure of operational flexibility in our water-treatment process that we did not have before," Kunen said.
Ramping up operations
The city can operate the new system four hours a week until it gets final approval from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Kunen said.
That approval could take four or five weeks. The water eventually sent to customers will be a blend of water treated by the existing process and water treated by the reverse osmosis system.
A better blend
Stuart has been able to produce safe and good-tasting water by using two existing systems.
Besides better taste and quality, Woodside expects users will notice a difference in how the water looks.
Water flowing into the new system also will be free of PFAS/PFOS chemicals because it is coming from a well in the Floridan aquifer 1,680 feet underground, Kunen and Woodside said. The aquifer holds a mix of salt water and freshwater, which is why it needs to be treated.
The path to reverse osmosis
Stuart's path to a reverse osmosis plant began when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection "changed the acceptable level" of PFAS/PFOS chemicals "from no restriction to 70 parts per trillion," Mayor Becky Bruner said.
PFAS/PFOS chemicals were determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2016 to have the potential to cause disease.
The chemicals have been used in nonstick cookware and firefighting foam, among thousands of other products.
The EPA found high levels of the chemicals in Stuart's water supply in 2014 and 2015, and city officials responded by having a separate facility built to remove the chemicals. That system is still in operation, and the level of PFAS/PFOS in the water supply is undetectable.
Costs, rates and contests
Despite the new system's cost, the city plans to leave water rates unchanged in the near future, Kunen said.
More: Stuart reverse osmosis plant delayed, now slated for spring
More: What would you do with $190 million? Here's what Treasure Coast governments are doing
It's unclear how much the new system will cost to operate. That's "difficult to say" until the facility has been operating for about a year, Kunen said.
TCPalm previously reported the cost of building the new system at $18.3 million, but, Kunen said, that excluded the cost of modifying an offsite well and a pipeline from that well.
Stuart won the Florida Rural Water Association “Best Tasting Water” contest in 2001, 2004, and in 2014, and, Kunen said, is planning to enter its "new" water in this year’s contest in August.
Keith Burbank is TCPalm's watchdog reporter covering Martin County. He can be reached at keith.burbank@tcpalm.com or at 720-288-6882. Former TCPalm environmental reporter Katie Delk contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Even better-tasting water expected in Stuart with new treatment plant
