Greg Veliz, executive director of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about our water.
The authority is currently going through the permitting process for the new treatment plant.
“We’re having meetings this morning on rebuilding our treatment plant,” Veliz said. “We’re going through the permitting process as we speak.”
The treatment plant is where the authority’s water supply originates. Water is drawn from the aquifer, treated and then distributed throughout the Keys.
The existing treatment process, however, does not remove PFAS from the water. Veliz said the authority was previously operating within established guidelines, but stricter standards have significantly lowered the allowable levels.
He estimated the cost of bringing the treatment process into compliance at approximately $100 million.
“To put it in dollars, it’s $100 million,” Veliz said. “So we had to go through our budget and free up $100 million so that we could start construction on this new plant that we’re going to need to meet the new restrictions.”
The authority is also continuing work on its major transmission-line replacement project.
Crews are completing the latest section of the project, including tying lines together near the school. The authority is then preparing to move south from the original Islamorada project area, with approximately seven miles of additional transmission line planned.
Design work has already been completed for that section.
Funding remains a major part of the authority’s ongoing work. Veliz said the authority is balancing borrowed money, customer rates, grants and state funding to pay for its infrastructure needs.
He said the authority is preparing to sign a new bond totaling $48.5 million.
“We continue to play the balancing act of borrowed monies versus rates versus money from grants and Tallahassee,” Veliz said. “It takes all three legs of that stool to make it stand.”
Veliz also emphasized the importance of continued state support for water infrastructure in the Florida Keys.
He said the Keys are an important economic driver for Florida and maintaining a reliable water supply is essential to both the local and state economies.
“Water is essential,” Veliz said. “Keeping us in water and keeping us functioning has got to be essential.”
He also said protecting the Everglades is in everyone’s interest because of its relationship to the region’s water resources.
At the same time, the authority is facing increasingly stringent requirements for wastewater treatment and the handling of treated effluent.
Veliz said wastewater treatment facilities must demonstrate improvements each time their permits come up for renewal, rather than simply receiving automatic renewals.
He pointed to ongoing work in Marathon involving a deep injection well as an example of the costly infrastructure needed to meet those requirements.
Veliz also clarified that the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority operates independently of Key West city government.
The authority is a special district and a state-related agency, meaning the outcome of Key West’s municipal elections does not directly determine the authority’s operations.
Although much of the authority’s infrastructure runs through Key West and the agency works with city officials regularly, Veliz said the authority does not need city permission to carry out its core responsibility of maintaining the Keys’ water supply.
“People wake up in the morning. They expect to have water,” Veliz said. “At the end of the day, that’s our goal.”
For more information, click here: https://www.fkaa.com/