The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) has placed increased emphasis on the development of alternative water supplies for South Florida due to concerns of increased withdrawals on the sustainability of the Biscayne Aquifer. As a result, an application for a consumptive use permit renewal must now include provisions for the development of alternate resources for meeting a portion of the water supply needs. One potential water supply alternative in South Florida is the more saline Upper Floridian Aquifer. The recently developed Interim consumptive Use Authorization and Agreement between WASD and SFWMD includes provisions for the development of the Upper Floridian Aquifer as a water supply alternative. With total dissolved solids ranging from 3500 to 5800 mg/l in the Upper Floridian Aquifer, reverse osmosis will be required to develop this new water supply alternative. As part of this program to develop alternative water supplies, WASD is now investigating the integration of an Upper Floridan Aquifer water supply into the design of the South Miami Heights water treatment plant. The design capacity for the water treatment plant would remain 20 mgd, integrating 10 mgd of finished water production from both aquifers. Since the Upper Floridan Aquifer supply includes a significant amount of hydrogen sulfide and the Biscayne Aquifer wells can contain dissolved oxygen, there is a concern that mixing these raw water sources could result in the formation of elemental sulfur that could foul the membranes. For this reason, the raw water supply systems will be kept independent through the membrane treatment units. The new Upper Floridian Aquifer supply and treatment system will consist of raw water supply wells, raw water transmission mains, membrane feed pumps, RO treatment units, degasifiers and scrubbers. This paper will consider the design challenges associated with integrating the Upper Floridian and Biscayne Aquifer supplies and the modifications needed to integrate the new Floridian Aquifer treatment system into the original facility design.
This presentation is available to AMTA Members only.
Speaker
- Kurt Kiefer, PE, BCEE
Company
- CDM Smith Inc.
Event
- AMTA Biennial Conference, Las Vegas, NV
Session
- Biennial Conference
Date
- 07/23/07
Media
Keywords
- South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), Biscayne Aquifer, hydrogen sulfide, dissolved oxygen, aquifer integration, ULP/NF/RO, odor control, hydrated lime system
Reference
- 9641-DP197