The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority works hard to keep water flowing in the Keys

Greg Veliz, executive director with the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on with water.

There have been a lot of projects going on recently with the aqueduct authority.

Veliz said, “Right now, we’re about to expand our footprint 12 miles, which by the time we finish Islamorada, which will be this week, we’ll then reduce it again. We’re working on three separate projects, one of five miles, one of two miles and another one of five miles in consecutive order going up the Keys. So yeah, we had a lot of work going on in there. Some are starting to finish, and some are just beginning. Islamorada is finally going to get its final tie in. We’ve done some wastewater work here in Key West, where we’ve been able to tie in Big Coppitt to the Key West city plant, and we’re now actually using some of their capacity. So, yeah, there’s been a lot of things, both on the wastewater and the water side. A lot of projects going on. Now we’re running up to Fantasy Fest and Goombay and we’re running up against that timetable too, and trying to juggle projects and start them around special events now.”

Capacity is not a concern for Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority.

Veliz confirmed, “It’s not. We obviously see peak periods, and then we see some of not so big a demand. But our biggest thing is the mornings when, when irrigation kicks on, those are our big draws, things like a couple people more or less coming in here and there, is not as big a draw on the system as what we see weekly from irrigation systems.”

Did the recent storms cause any issues?

Veliz said, “Not on the water side, more on the wastewater side, higher volumes, sometimes you get intrusion from both the tides and the rain. So, yeah, that causes a problem on the wastewater side, but not on the water side.”

Does saltwater cause problems?

Veliz said, “It’s very difficult to stop. When the tides get as high, then they get to the manholes. So you can put covers in there, but if you’ve got standing salt water, there is intrusion, and that definitely hurts the system. We try to keep it as tight as possible. That’s just collection system going out, taking it from the from the property line, all the way to the manhole, all the way to the pump station, and we do what we can do, but when you get standing salt water, there’s intrusion, and that hurts the system.”

The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority is ready for any contingency.

Veliz said, “Our number one goal is to harden the system, especially on the water side. We’re going to do as much as we can. People ask all the time, when are you going to be done? Well, if this goes correctly, we won’t be. This will continue to go, and we’ll continue to work and hopefully we’ll be able to replace all of this line one day. Then it’ll probably be time to start again.”

Where does the funding come from?

Veliz said, “We are exhausting every avenue available to us. We have expanded. We’ve taken on a grant writer, which we did not have before. We have expanded our grant department from one person to now three people. So the amount of grants that we’re bringing in is unprecedented here. We’re bringing in a lot of money, but that has to have matching funds, so you have to get those funds also. In that regard, Tallahassee has been very good to us. They understand what we’re trying to do. They see that effort and we’re spending the money they’ve given us, so they tend to give us more, and that’s a big help for us.”

What about the RO plant?

Veliz said, “Unfortunately, we ran into that supply chain issue that everyone ran into and getting parts and getting things. Right now, if you pass by it, it’s a fully functioning building. It looks as though you could move in. The problem is just missing some key components until we can start it up. So we’re now looking at probably a February to April deadline to get it started up. No one’s happy about that. It should have been running already, but if you don’t have the parts, it’s very difficult to get moving.”

The RO plant will add to the water supply.

Veliz said, “That will create 4 million gallons a day when fully operational. Now we don’t really hope to run it at that level constantly, but we do think we’ll be running it around the clock, so that’s going to be a full time operation here. Once the one in Marathon gets built, and that too, will be able to produce 4 million gallons a day. So that will be some increased water security south of Marathon, and something we’ve been lacking for some time.”