Greg Veliz, executive director for the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about their projects.
Replacing the pipeline up and down the Keys is critical, but will cause some traffic tie-ups. Coral Shores High School is the next spot.
Veliz said, “We can go on a pro and con thing, starting with con. Con, the traffic at best is going to be uncomfortable. We’re going to do whatever we can, but there’s no way that we are going to make it not uncomfortable. We’re trying to get as many people to understand that it’s coming and that it’s going to happen. On the pro side, we’re moving very fast. That’s why we’re getting here so early. We’re moving fast, and we are hoping, but for one for about a 30 day period between late October and late November, it’s going to be uncomfortable.”
Will there be an adjustment to the school hours?
Veliz said, “Right now, I’m not sure that anything’s off the table. We have met with the school board as recently as, I believe, yesterday or day before yesterday, and I didn’t hear anything as far as that. Now, do they have some internal discussions going on with that? I don’t know, but I didn’t hear it on our call, but I have heard that.”
This is all to replace part of the main water transmission line.
Veliz said, “We had a big leak the other day on Cow Key, which is now very well documented. We’d much rather do it under a controlled situation than having to do it in the middle of night. I mean, that caused a tremendous backup in Key West, both coming in in the morning to some degree, and then going out certainly in the afternoon. It’s something that’s unavoidable. We have to get it done. Like I said, one good thing is we’re moving very quickly.”
The project will be just about around the clock.
Veliz said, “We will. We’re going to go through every exercise and basically how it’s going to go, pretty much how the last one went, os we will meet on a daily or every other day basis with DOT, the school board, the sheriff, all the players involved, and tweak it, and we will make minor tweaks that either will help or hurt the situation and in the end of 30 days, it’ll be over, and we’ll keep moving. But it’s going to be a living, moving thing, and we are probably going to be making tweaks a couple times a week, just trying to see what we can do to make it a little bit better.”
How is the reverse osmosis plant coming in Marathon?
Veliz said, “All moving well. We’re producing water out of the one we’ve built that we recently had the grand opening. It’s producing water up to 2 million gallons a day. We’re running half the plant, and then the one up in Marathon is progressing fine. We’ve awarded the bid. We’re ready to get them to start putting in the tanks, and then the pump station, and then we’ll eventually put in the plant and we’ll have hopefully in the next five years or so, it’s going to take a while. I mean, these things take a long time. These are all custom made parts, and depending on the supply chain and how they’re coming out of the plants, but it will take a while, but we will be operational.”
Have tariffs affected the timetable?
Veliz said, “Right after the pandemic, there were some really heavy supply chain issues. They’ve quelled some, but no, we have not heard anything about tariffs thus far. A lot of what we’re putting in up there is American steel. So hopefully we’re not going to see much tariff on that. A lot of what we put in the ground is American steel.”
What’s the life expectancy of the new transmission lines?
Veliz said, “Years ago, we did steel and then somewhere in the 80s, I believe they were sold that duct a line was the way to go, and duct a line was the latest and the greatest, and they stuck that in the ground. Now that has proven not to be as effective as American steel. So here we go back. Obviously, technology’s gotten better. We’re putting more protective coatings on it and things of that nature, but it’s still American steel, and going back to what we did in the very beginning.”
How is funding going?
Veliz said, “It’s a stool. It’s basically a four legged stool where you have borrowed monies, we have gone to the market and borrowed money. We have adjusted rates. Grants, obviously, and then appropriations from Tallahassee and Washington, which we’re having a check presentation here tomorrow for seven and a half million dollars that the legislature was very kind and giving us this year towards the RO plant in Marathon. So yes, we are beating every bush and pushing and pushing and pushing, not only from the water side, but from the wastewater side. We have a lot of wastewater needs, and we don’t want to neglect that side either. We juggle that funding short term, long term, trying to bridge things so that we can take advantage of the changes in interest rates. I mean, we have a team of people that we pay just to monitor that and tell us, what’s the most advantageous? Because they’re large amounts of money. They’re in the millions and hundreds of millions and gaining a point here, or half a point there, is a big deal when we’re talking about those amounts of funds.”
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