By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
A proposal is being floated by local elected officials to form a cooperative that would pipe drinking water from the Bronson area to Otter Creek and Cedar Key and use a separate pipeline to send reclaimed sewage effluent back to the Bronson area.
Levy County Commissioner John Meeks, Bronson Mayor Robert Partin, Cedar Key Mayor Heath Davis, and Otter Creek Mayor Russell Meeks, Sr. are working with the Suwannee River Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on a plan to make the cooperative a reality.
They have settled on a name for the new public-private partnership – the Nature Coast Cooperative. Partin said the cost of the project could reach at least $100 million. Those involved in the discussions are expecting the state to foot the bill to construct the system.
Report Due in Late September
The project remains in its infancy for the time being. A company known as Wetlands Solutions has been hired by SRWMD to develop a report due in late September to map out four options for creating the cooperative. The report is supposed to clear up how the cooperative would work, who would govern it and what areas would it govern among other things.
Discussion of a water pipeline between Bronson and Cedar Key started last year. All the brainstorming meetings of the working group have been out of the public eye, in closed-door sessions, which has led to some puzzled looks on the faces of some local elected officials trying to figure out what they are being asked to support.
The original idea was for Bronson to pump fresh water to Otter Creek and Cedar Key to replace the central water systems of those cities. The two cities produce well water that doesn’t meet state standards. The latest idea seems to be for a wellfield to be created outside Bronson to pump water to those two cities. The discussions have morphed into a more comprehensive plan to possibly move Cedar Key’s wastewater treatment plant off the island and pump its treated effluent, known as reclaimed water, back to the Bronson for growing farm crops.
Rosewood and Sumner
At the most recent Levy County Commission meeting last week, Meeks added a third possibility when he asked if the board had any appetite for providing central water and sewer to the Rosewood and Sumner areas along State Road 24. Both unincorporated communities border State Road 24. The pipelines would probably travel along SR 24 between Bronson and Cedar Key.
But the question of supplying water and central sewer to those communities gave rise to another question about whether residents living in the woods off County Road 347 and the Suwannee River area should connect to the system as well.
One of the major concerns among state officials is the hundreds of septic tanks between Rosewood and Cedar Key. Many are mounded septic tanks that flush contaminated groundwater toward the Cedar Key coastline during times of high rainfall. Cedar Key is home to a unique clam farming industry.
There is also worry that allowing the current wastewater treatment plant located on the island of Cedar Key to continue operating there could invite a disaster if the city was hit by a hurricane and the effluent spilled into the waters around the island city, contaminating the clam and oyster beds with sewage bacteria and fouling the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Partin is of the opinion that there are ample public funds floating around Tallahassee to pay for this system, and like Meeks, he is of the opinion that the state would pay for the entire water and sewer system with public funding one way or another. The county and cities wouldn’t be on the hook for the bill. But Meeks said timing is everything. He thinks a quick turnaround is needed after the report comes out in late September to get state funding for the project.
Mandatory Hookup?
Another question is whether hookup should be mandatory for the area between Rosewood and Cedar Key. The cities of Cedar Key and Otter Creek are on board with connecting to the system. Another question is whether the Levy County Commission would need to govern the portion of water and sewer system between Rosewood and Cedar Key since that area does lie in the unincorporated area of the county. Would it involve creating a new utility department for the county? The commission is already saddled with operating the water systems for University Oaks and the Chiefland Golf and Country Club. The county took over operation of those two systems when the private owners went bankrupt. State law required the county to assume operation of the systems.
The report being prepared by Wetlands Solutions should offer more details on what the Nature Coast Cooperative would look like if it is ever assembled into a central water and sewer system. Crucial questions have to be answered before anything can happen.
“Where will we put critical pieces of infrastructure like a wastewater treatment plant because the drinking water is going to be shipped from Bronson to Cedar Key and the treated wastewater is going to be shipped back to Bronson? It’s going to eliminate any type of wastewater facility on the coast near that fragile ecosystem,” Meeks said in a report to the county commission on Aug. 16. “It also provides end-user reclaimed water for any industry and agriculture operation to use that water, so that brings up the question of who is going to manage the Sumner and Rosewood area, so I didn’t want to make a decision without having an open dialogue with Commissioner Lilly Rooks being involved and Jimmy Jones of utilities. Rooks represents the Rosewood and Sumner areas. Jones is the county’s construction and maintenance supervisor. He runs the county’s two water systems.
Wobbly Board Support
“Is there any appetite by this board for the future? This doesn’t have to be decided today, it doesn’t have to be decided this year, but it needs to be decided as a road map for how to look at the future of Levy County, extending and expanding our systems both water and wastewater in the unincorporated areas of Rosewood and Sumner,” Meeks added.
Rooks said she knows Cedar Key and Otter Creek will never be able to meet state water standards. She said Cedar Key’s current city well is four or five miles east of the city beyond what she called the big hill off State Road 24. She said the city has already experienced saltwater intrusion at that location.
“So, I know there’s a need for water, but I’m telling you right now I would refuse to hook up to it,” she said. “Some of the people out there feel the same way, but you have other people who want it to go. It’s their business,” Rooks said.
Gilbert McCain, superintendent of the Cedar Key Water and Sewer District, said the saltwater intrusion occurred during an extended drought in the early 2000s, but he said the saltwater disappeared from city wells after heavy rainfall and hasn’t been a problem since. He said the city still has trouble meeting state water standards without doing “a ton of things” to treat the water.
Utilities Expensive
Commissioner Matt Brooks said the utility business isn’t getting any cheaper. He cited the City of Williston as an example. He said there’s a lot of costs involved in renovating the sewage treatment plant along with the other sewer system infrastructure throughout the community.
Brooks said he would need to know whether mandatory hookup would be part of the plan for the cooperative and he wants to see what the study area would look like before he could commit to anything.
“But as far as the county getting into the business, I don’t want to have another water department for the county. If we had some experts who do this every day, monitoring and doing the maintenance and everything that needs to be done do it, I would have a lot more confidence for me,” Brooks said. But he added if the county had to create another new department to manage the system, he wouldn’t be enthusiastic about supporting it.
“It’s a large undertaking. The devils in the details,” he said.
Seeing Opportunity
Commission Chairman Rock Meeks said he sees this as a potential opportunity. He said the state may one day require rural homeowners to replace septic tanks with expensive high-performance septic systems. He agreed Cedar Key has a very critical fishery that can be dramatically impacted when mounded septic tanks flush contaminated groundwater toward the coastline during times of heavy rainfall. Meeks said he isn’t excited about the county getting into the water business, but overall, he sees the project in a positive way.
“I see this as an opportunity. I do believe it is a major undertaking, and I do see it as an opportunity moving forward,” he said. “It will cost a lot of money. I think there will be money out there.”
Commissioner John Meeks wanted to know if commissioners wanted to be a player in this project. He said as long as he is sitting at the table, he will push for an outlet from the pipeline at Rosewood. He said it’s better to build the water pipeline with a tap at Rosewood than to install it later at greater expense.
Brooks said if the board had a master plan to examine it would help commissioners understand what is being asked of them.
“That’s what this report is going to do in September, but the turnaround time is short to apply for money,” John Meeks responded. “Less than a year ago this idea was formed. The water management district was brought in and DEP was brought in and the Legislature was brought in. They want it more quickly,” he said.
What Does “In” Look Like?
Brooks said he wants to know more about what is being proposed before he can commit to anything.
“I won’t say we’re out. It’s going through an unincorporated area. I just want to know what “in” looks like,” Brooks said. “I know that’s a big “if” when they’re trying to make plans, but it’s our responsibility to know what “in” requires of the county.”
——————–
Board of County Commission Regular Meeting August 16, 2022; Posted August 22, 2022
