Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Dunedin reopens reclaimed water tap

The city banned new connections to the system for nearly three years. Now a special permit from Swiftmud allows 800 more customers to hook up.

By MEGAN SCOTT
Published August 12, 2005

DUNEDIN - For nearly three years, no one was able to hook up to the city's reclaimed water system, mainly because there wasn't enough water to go around.

The city kept running out of reclaimed water in the dry season, from February to June.

So commissioners stopped any new connections.

But because of a special permit from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, 800 more customers will be able to get reclaimed water.

Last month, commissioners agreed to lift the ban.

"We're hooking them up right now," said Irvin Kety, division director of water for the city. "We want people using reclaimed water as their primary source of irrigation."

The new connections are available to 500 customers who live along existing reclaimed water lines, Kety said.

The rest are being held in reserve for eight communities that were planned when the moratorium went into effect three years ago.

So far, 160 of those 500 customers have been hooked up or are being hooked up.

"This is on a first-come, first-served basis, and it will close up fast," Kety said. "If people along those existing lines want reclaimed water, they would do well to contact us. It is a race."

The moratorium went into effect in August 2002.

Dunedin then began to focus on how to conserve reclaimed water, which households use to water their lawns.

The city started asking existing customers to participate in a voluntary three-day watering schedule during the dry season and began a public awareness campaign on conservation.

Those moves helped Dunedin secure a special permit from Swiftmud to use groundwater to supplement the reclaimed water system during the dry season.

The city is the first to get such approval from Swiftmud, Kety said.

Under the agreement, Dunedin can use no more than 1-million gallons of groundwater a day and no more than 14-million gallons of groundwater for the dry season.

That should be plenty for 800 new customers, Kety said.

Commissioner Deborah Kynes said the advantages of augmenting reclaimed water with groundwater is that customers will no longer be using drinking water to water their lawns.

That will reduce water bills and curb well field pumping.

"It's a win-win situation for the environment and the community," she said. "The only negative is reclaimed water will always be a finite source. There is just only so much you can develop."

Megan Scott can be reached at 445-4167 or mscott@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 12, 2005, 00:46:18]