Water Everywhere

Florida is literally surrounded by water. The Floridan and Biscayne aquifers are below us; we have the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Gulf of America to the West.

In addition, we live in a tropical climate, which means we have heavy rain seasons as well as Hurricanes. So, water is everywhere. Hallandale Beach is somewhat independent in terms of water, as we have our own water plant. We do, however, depend on what is called raw water. We used to be able to draw water from the Biscayne aquifer through multiple wells within our city.

Due to saltwater intrusion, those wells have been shut down. Saltwater is actually heavier than regular water. With Sea-Level Rise, this water has begun to intrude beneath us, elevating our water table.

We do pull from one or two of them. But the majority of our raw water comes from Brian Piccolo Well Field. This water is transported through a system and then is treated at our water plant.

When I was first elected, the city was going to decommission our water plant and buy our water from another city. I understood that when we did this with wastewater, we became dependent and, as I call it, a second-tier customer.

Obviously, a city will take care of its own customers first, and the limits capacity. I fought, I lobbied the Commission, and we actually built a state-of-the-art plant.

Every city and county has to develop a long-term Water Supply Plan. Due to development to the west, the water supply plan needed to be addressed. In 2014, they established the Broward County Water Task Force, of which I was a member.

The goal of the long-term water supply plan was to expand water storage capacity, particularly to serve the western communities and the Area South of Palm Beach.

I was selected and appointed by the task force to serve on the governance committee, which developed a master water plan between both counties to establish large storage capacity with the capability to transfer water to Broward County.

This would expand the water supply and Lake Okeechobee. The plan has been successful which has helped address long term water supplies.

Fast forward to today, Hallandale Beach is fortunate to have the new plant, not simply because it's ours; we have built in capacity. Currently, we are unitizing two skids that provide 6 million gallons per day.

The water is treated using a process called nanofiltration. We actually mix water from lime softening and nanofiltration. The other great thing is that now that we do nanofiltration, we are not scrambling like other communities with removing chemicals forever. These methods are successful but also expensive due to energy costs. Currently, we are using energy recovery from the process.

My last three articles covering water resources hopefully gave readers a better understanding of the complexities of delivering water services to our customers.

Utility bills are not just about water; they reflect how we get it, how we treat it, and how we deliver it to the tap. I also work with different employees with various levels of expertise, including administrative, budget, and billing for the service.

As always, I am available anytime for your questions, concerns, and ideas to make our City a better place on my Phone/Text at: (954) 632-5700. Or you can email me at: jcooper@cohb.org. Please visit me on my Facebook page at: MayorJoyCooperHB. Like! Follow! And share!