GL: Sewage dumping in south Florida

[Gregory Han]

I do not know if this is appropriate for extensive discussion so if
anyone is interested we can discuss this offline.

After working in this field for many years and living on Key Biscayne
right near one of the big treatment plants ; I am always surprised
that the average person has no idea what happens when they flush.

As living beings subject to the laws of thermodynamics we generate
waste products and they have to go somewhere. The problem is
increasingly water conservation and not pollution. Here on Key
Biscayne we are getting the first "purple pipe" reclaimed water under
the new Miami program to be use for watering landscaping on public
property.

In Miami the southern plant which covers almost half the county and is
the largest of the six outfalls , used to discharge a few hundred
yards from shore - a place called the "rose bowl" offshore. For many
years the plant discharges now discharges right at the edge of the
Gulf Stream.  The south Florida counties mentioned are all located
close enough to the edge of the GS that they designed their systems to
discharge offshore into what is essentially a huge flowing river.

Other places in Florida and elsewhere discharge into surface water of
various sorts but not directly into the ocean. The water is treated to
secondary level and chlorinated but still has nutrients in it which
can cause other effects such as undesirable plant and algae growth.
This is NOT raw sewage. Other cities inject the waste into deep and
not so deep wells which are now causing other problems in some areas.
All methods cause some effect either in the long or short term.  If
you look at the reports on beach water quality, the worst in the state
are in the Big Bend on the west coast of  FL and are mostly naturally
occuring.

Water treatment and sewerage systems are tremendously capital
intensive and require long term planning.   There are no easy answers
and no demons here. Just a balance between stakeholders and tax and
rate payers that see different priorities.



If you was to see another article by the Surfrider Foundation that
gives a balanced account
 http://www.surfrider.org/stateofthebeach/05-sr/state.asp?zone=SE&state=fl&cat=wq

Another comprehesive report is at
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/reuse/docs/OceanOutfallStudy.pdf


-- 
Greg Han



On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 8:13 PM, tom <fourniercontracting at gmail.com> wrote:
> I was born and raised in Miami and know when I was a kid this was going on
>  but this weekend my brother in law saw this article in the paper and I could
>  not believe that in this day and time this would be still going on to this
>  extent, and the government is wanting us to get a permit for our
>  boats???????????