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Where Does West Palm's Water Come From? · Inside West Palm Beach

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  Hi everyone, I'm Jerry Marcello and
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  welcome to the City
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  Center podcast from West Palm
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  Beach.
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  Most people will agree that drinking
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  water is perhaps the
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  most important resource for
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  any town or city.
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  But most residents don't know where their
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  water comes from or
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  what it takes to get it
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  from its natural
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  state to the kitchen tap.
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  Today we're going to explore how West
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  Palm Beach gets its water
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  and the technology that's
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  used to make it pure for you to drink.
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  Joining us today is Victor Carossi, the
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  Director of Public
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  Utilities for the City of West
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  Palm Beach.
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  Victor, welcome.
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  Thank you.
• 14:18:00
  Thank you very much, Jerry.
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  Okay, so without
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  water, do we have a city?
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  No, no, not at all.
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  It's the most important part of the city.
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  It's the lifeblood, water, definitely.
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  Okay, and I would assume that every city
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  has a different way of
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  getting water, whether
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  it's a well or from a lake.
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  How do we get our water?
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  You know, it's an interesting question.
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  You know, I've only been with the city
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  for just under two
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  years now, but in that short
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  tenure, I've learned
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  quite a bit about our water.
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  Really we refer to it as
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  the journey of our water.
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  What I've learned, and I think it's truly
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  amazing, you'd ask,
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  you know, without a city,
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  without water, where would the city be?
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  Well, actually that goes back to as early
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  as 1894 with Henry
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  Flagler and his East Coast
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  Hotel Company when they established the
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  first public water
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  supply here from Clear Lake.
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  And to this day, Clear Lake is still our
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  main source of water.
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  That's where we draw our
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  water from to do our treatment.
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  So as the city started to develop back
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  from the 1800s to now,
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  the water system has been
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  part of that and part of that growth.
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  So at that time, the water was drawn from
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  the source, the original first source was
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  Clear Lake, which is now sort of like in
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  the middle of the city
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  between Australia and I-95
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  and all sorts of activity.
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  It is.
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  It's sort of our welcome, if
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  you will, to the city as well.
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  You know, when you come down Okeechobee,
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  you've got the beautiful
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  palm trees lining your way
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  and you've got the lake on your sides,
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  and that's part of it.
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  So that's part of West Palm Beach, and
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  West Palm Beach has
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  grown along the way with that
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  lake always being there.
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  But it's not only that lake.
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  Later on, the city recognized that that
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  source alone wouldn't be
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  enough and started to develop
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  a grassy water preserve.
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  And I think that's really the key to us
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  now is the relationship
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  in how our water comes
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  to grassy waters and
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  from grassy waters preserve.
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  We have a canal system now that brings
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  and feeds into Clear Lake.
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  All right, let's talk a little bit about
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  grassy waters because a
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  lot of people think of grassy
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  waters and think recreation, hiking,
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  walking, and you know,
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  it's like a little preserve.
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  It's much more than that.
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  Yeah, it is.
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  It's much more than a
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  preserve and it's not little.
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  It's about 23 square miles of preserve.
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  Wow.
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  And it is also, because it's been so well
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  preserved and has
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  such a long history with
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  the city, it was largely missed the
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  development boom that
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  came through the city.
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  So what you see in grassy waters is part
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  of the original Everglades.
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  They tell me that it's pretty much
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  untouched and that some of
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  the land formations, some
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  of the species over there
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  are parts of the original.
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  So it's really a wonderful story how that
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  has been able to
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  remain and be part of our
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  water story for so, so many years.
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  So grassy waters are
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  sort of like a time machine.
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  It's like a little capsule of what was
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  there before development took place.
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  Yes, yes.
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  There are different tours that we do out
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  of grassy waters and
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  it's part of the history
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  that some of our naturalists at the
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  grassy waters talk about
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  and showing some of the
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  unique features of the Floridian
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  ecosystem, including areas
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  where there are different
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  rises or ridges and how that they could
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  talk about how years ago
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  that was different levels
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  of water that might have been present.
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  And it's all part of the ecosystem that
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  we have here and we're
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  very lucky to have grassy
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  waters as one of our main sources of
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  fresh drinking water.
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  And for those folks who don't really
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  know, the location of
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  grassy waters is fairly far
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  flung.
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  It's out west, it's all the way up near
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  North Lake Boulevard and
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  it's quite a throw, but
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  it's still part of the city.
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  Yes, yeah.
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  Our city does reach out that way.
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  So the city extends beyond what people
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  generally consider our
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  downtown area and does push west
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  out towards North Lake Boulevard and as
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  far west as I guess
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  grassy waters, it's probably
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  its western end.
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  And with the size of the preserve that
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  you mentioned, it's
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  almost like half the size
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  of the city.
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  When you look out at a map, it's pretty
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  encompassing, isn't it?
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  Yes.
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  Okay, so we start with this beautiful
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  preserve being the source of water.
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  Now, is it a well or is it surface water?
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  What are we drinking?
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  So we drink what's called surface water.
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  The water here is not from a well,
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  generally, it comes from rainwater.
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  And with the grassy water, it's also
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  known as a catchment area.
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  So by design, it just draws the rainwater
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  into it and we're able
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  to capture that rainwater
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  in grassy water and then through a canal
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  system, we move that
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  water from grassy waters down
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  through the city to over to Clear Lake.
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  Okay, so let me stab you there.
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  So it's not like there's a group of pipes
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  that are pushing this
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  water from grassy waters
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  down towards Clear Lake.
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  They're a natural or they are canals.
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  It's a canal.
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  It's not natural.
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  We call it the M canal.
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  It's a man-made canal.
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  I can't tell you when it was dug or how,
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  but it's a man-made
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  canal that brings water from
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  grassy water over to actually goes first
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  into what we call Lake Mangonia.
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  And then from Lake Mangonia, there's also
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  a channel that goes and
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  brings that into Clear
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  Lake.
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  So our water system, as we talked about
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  earlier, is a surface water system.
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  It's not well-based.
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  It's not deep down from an aquifer, but I
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  could talk more about that later.
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  But right now it's a surface water
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  system, which is one of
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  the very few in Florida.
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  Most of the water systems in Florida are
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  aquifer-based,
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  whether there's the Biscayne
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  Aquifer, which is like from areas south
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  of us, or locally
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  there's the Floridian Aquifer,
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  which is quite a large aquifer
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  underground of water.
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  And then there's other well surfaces that
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  are called surficial.
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  That's more of a shallower well system.
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  Okay.
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  So there are probably people who think
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  that this part of
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  Florida is nothing more than
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  the sandbar.
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  You're saying that we have an aquifer
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  system, how far down?
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  So pretty far down.
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  This thing called the Floridian Aquifer,
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  and again, I'm nowhere
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  near an expert in this,
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  but the Floridian Aquifer is actually
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  quite an extensive
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  underground trapped water, if
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  you will.
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  It's very deep underground, 1,200, 1,500
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  feet down underground, and it's
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  far-reaching, meaning
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  its influence is here in South Florida,
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  and its roundges quite a
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  ways up through the state,
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  even touching into parts of Georgia.
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  And from what I've been told is that this
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  is a trapped water, in
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  other words, it's old
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  water that has been in there, and it's
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  because of the natural
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  soil types that the aquifer
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  is largely untouched from other
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  influences of other water.
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  It might have normally seeped through the
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  ground, but based upon
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  the geological formations,
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  this is a good source
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  of quality freshwater.
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  It does have some salinity to it, so I'm
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  using the term "fresh" to
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  distinguish it from salt
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  of the ocean, but there is some salinity
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  associated with it, but
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  it's generally, we can remove
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  some of that salt from it.
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  Now, help me with some definitions here.
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  We talked about freshwater,
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  we've talked about salt water.
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  This water that you're describing almost
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  sounds like it might be brackish?
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  Yeah, that's the way it's generally
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  termed brackish water, yes.
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  Okay, so it's a mixture.
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  It's a mix of salt and fresh water.
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  Again, the terminology tends to how much
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  salt is dissolved in that
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  water, and it's a relative
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  scale.
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  And this brackish, I believe it's
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  somewhere around 1,200
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  milligrams versus the ocean,
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  which is like 36,000, so there's this
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  matter of scale differences.
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  Sure, sure.
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  So, you're talking about water that's
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  deep, deep underground.
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  We're not necessarily
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  drinking that right now, right?
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  Correct.
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  Okay, we're drinking surface water.
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  We are drinking surface water right now,
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  and a little bit more
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  about our surface water.
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  The surface water we also have is, we
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  also include Lake
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  Okeechobee, because it is also
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  a source of our water.
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  So there's a lot of effort to protect and
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  to clean Lake
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  Okeechobee and make sure that
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  water has as many pollutants removed from
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  it, and there's a lot
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  of efforts to restore
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  the Everglades, but part of that water
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  also does come to us.
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  And the city has canals that reach all
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  the way out towards
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  Lake Okeechobee and several
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  different methods of moving that water
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  from Lake Okeechobee
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  through our canal system,
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  ultimately getting its way to Lake
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  Mangonia, as I
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  mentioned, into Clear Lake.
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  So again, that's part of
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  our surface water system.
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  We generally, due to obviously water
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  quality issues, rely as much
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  as we can on grassy waters,
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  we have to recognize that there are
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  certain limitations because
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  grassy waters is generally
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  sourced from rainwater.
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  So we're very happy that it's beginning
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  to rain finally, our
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  wet season is upon us.
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  But as we know just recently, if you were
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  out at grassy waters,
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  you'd see how dry it
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  was unfortunately.
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  So we have a seasonal dependency on the
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  rains, and it is a
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  challenge, because we're always
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  trying to manage our water resources as
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  best we can to make
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  sure we provide the highest
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  quality water to all of our customers,
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  our residents, and those
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  that come to visit West
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  Palm Beach.
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  Quality of water now.
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  There may be folks at home are saying,
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  "Well, it's really nice,
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  the rainwater and all."
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  But once it's on the ground, there are
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  bugs, there are stuff
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  that gets into the water.
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  What is the process now that we bring the
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  water all the way to
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  the city, that we now
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  clean it and we prepare it for
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  distribution to residents?
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  Well, even before we get to that point
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  with our water, one of
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  the great parts about the
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  city is its protection of
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  what we call the watershed.
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  So we have a team of staff
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  that routinely monitors our canal.
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  As you can imagine, it's a long canal.
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  It stretches roughly from
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  almost as far as Lake itself.
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  There's a small, we call it another
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  canal, called the L8 tieback.
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  But anyway, there's a canal that comes
• 14:28:07
  directly from Lake
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  Okeechobee that we tie into, but
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  it's about 25 or 28 miles west of here.
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  But from there, we have our canal that
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  comes all the way through.
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  So it comes through the Loxahatchee area,
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  through the acreage,
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  and it makes us all the
• 14:28:20
  way down through many
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  different developed communities.
• 14:28:23
  So there's certain challenges there.
• 14:28:25
  So we have a team that is constantly
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  looking at this canal, making
• 14:28:28
  sure there are no pollutants
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  getting into it.
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  We look at water quality.
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  Again, what we're trying to do is what we
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  can to capture that
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  water, make sure there
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  are no issues before it even gets to us.
• 14:28:38
  But yes, once that water comes into our
• 14:28:40
  lake, into our Lake
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  Mangonia, into our Clear Lake,
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  we do treat that water.
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  And it's an
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  interesting treatment process.
• 14:28:48
  We have our water treatment plant,
• 14:28:50
  bringing back to Mr. Flagler.
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  That's where it was first established.
• 14:28:54
  In fact, there's a building, one of the
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  buildings still remains on
• 14:28:56
  site that goes back to one
• 14:28:59
  of the early constructions back in the
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  early 20s, 1920s, when
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  that treatment plant was
• 14:29:05
  first constructed.
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  We use what's called a
• 14:29:07
  lime softening system.
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  It basically uses lime as its main
• 14:29:12
  initial treatment to
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  enhance the water to be able
• 14:29:16
  to remove any types of pollutants that
• 14:29:18
  might be in that water.
• 14:29:20
  And we're talking mainly certain bacteria
• 14:29:22
  that might come into it.
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  Luckily, the water itself is not heavily
• 14:29:28
  chemical laden or anything like that.
• 14:29:30
  So we're pretty blessed with it
• 14:29:32
  generally, a high quality storage water.
• 14:29:35
  It starts water.
• 14:29:35
  It starts water better than a lot of
• 14:29:36
  others to begin with.
• 14:29:38
  And our system then uses a series of
• 14:29:40
  settlement basins and
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  things like that to remove silt,
• 14:29:43
  remove sediments,
• 14:29:44
  treat some of the bacteria.
• 14:29:46
  Yeah.
• 14:29:46
  Okay.
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  So we're removing the
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  sediments, we're removing bacteria.
• 14:29:52
  What else do we have there?
• 14:29:54
  I know that there is some very high tech
• 14:29:57
  equipment that's in place
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  to help prepare the water.
• 14:30:01
  Yes.
• 14:30:01
  Yes.
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  So as our water moves along different
• 14:30:03
  treatment processes, one of our final
• 14:30:06
  processes is something
• 14:30:07
  that we're very proud that back in 2019,
• 14:30:09
  the city was among the
• 14:30:10
  first municipalities to
• 14:30:13
  create is an UV or ultraviolet light
• 14:30:16
  disinfection system.
• 14:30:17
  This is an interesting approach.
• 14:30:20
  The challenge we always have in water is
• 14:30:22
  making sure all the
• 14:30:23
  different pathogens are removed
• 14:30:24
  from water.
• 14:30:26
  And we try to limit
• 14:30:27
  the amount of chemical.
• 14:30:28
  So by utilizing a light source,
• 14:30:30
  ultraviolet light, it's
• 14:30:33
  been found that that light at
• 14:30:34
  a certain amount of energy is able to
• 14:30:37
  remove pathogens, remove
• 14:30:38
  certain bacteria from the
• 14:30:41
  water.
• 14:30:42
  And we use that in combination with
• 14:30:44
  hypochlorite to provide for disinfection.
• 14:30:48
  But it's a great system, high intensity
• 14:30:51
  light bulbs, and it just
• 14:30:52
  literally just shines through
• 14:30:54
  the light in a stainless steel vessel.
• 14:30:57
  And it's great for removing a lot of
• 14:30:59
  potential pathogens from the water.
• 14:31:01
  So not only do we make an effort to
• 14:31:04
  sanitize the water and make
• 14:31:06
  it a clean water that already
• 14:31:08
  started as pretty clean,
• 14:31:09
  but we make it even cleaner.
• 14:31:11
  I assume that there's a lot of testing
• 14:31:12
  that goes on to make
• 14:31:13
  sure that indeed it's up to
• 14:31:15
  snuff.
• 14:31:15
  Is that the case?
• 14:31:16
  Yes.
• 14:31:17
  Yes.
• 14:31:17
  Among the different staff that we have,
• 14:31:19
  we talked earlier, we
• 14:31:21
  have a whole department
• 14:31:21
  that's dedicated to monitoring the
• 14:31:24
  transport of our water
• 14:31:26
  through our own canal.
• 14:31:27
  We also have laboratory personnel.
• 14:31:31
  And the lab does testing of water.
• 14:31:34
  We do a lot of testing.
• 14:31:37
  It's EPA required,
• 14:31:38
  health department required.
• 14:31:40
  There's a series of processes.
• 14:31:41
  They might monitor the
• 14:31:42
  water as it comes in.
• 14:31:44
  They're going to monitor
• 14:31:45
  our treatment processes.
• 14:31:46
  But also every single day, we take
• 14:31:48
  various samples of the
• 14:31:50
  water from many different points
• 14:31:52
  within what we call
• 14:31:52
  our distribution system.
• 14:31:54
  In other words, from the buried pipes,
• 14:31:55
  from the pipes that are
• 14:31:55
  out in front of people's
• 14:31:56
  streets all throughout our community.
• 14:31:59
  We have almost 500 miles of pipe.
• 14:32:01
  And there are, don't recall the exact
• 14:32:03
  number of samples that are
• 14:32:04
  taken every day, but we're
• 14:32:05
  very much on top of making sure that the
• 14:32:09
  water is safe to drink
• 14:32:10
  and that the samples are
• 14:32:12
  proving that it's safe to drink and that
• 14:32:13
  we have the right
• 14:32:14
  balance of chemical out of
• 14:32:17
  the water and in the water for
• 14:32:19
  disinfection as we might
• 14:32:20
  need throughout the system.
• 14:32:21
  So it's an everyday process.
• 14:32:25
  We have staff onboard 24 hours, 365 days
• 14:32:28
  a year that are doing
• 14:32:29
  these types of analysis.
• 14:32:31
  What happens if a resident has questions
• 14:32:33
  about maybe their water
• 14:32:35
  smells funny or they have
• 14:32:37
  a question about it?
• 14:32:38
  Is there anyone they can call to get
• 14:32:39
  further information?
• 14:32:40
  Yes, actually that's part of our customer
• 14:32:42
  service and our outreach to our residents
• 14:32:44
  and to our customers.
• 14:32:46
  We always encourage people to
• 14:32:47
  call if you have any questions.
• 14:32:49
  And we bring them, depending on what the
• 14:32:50
  nature of the call might be, our
• 14:32:52
  laboratory personnel
• 14:32:53
  actually will talk to someone on the
• 14:32:54
  phone, will explain what
• 14:32:56
  the situation may or not
• 14:32:57
  be.
• 14:32:57
  We also do house calls.
• 14:32:58
  We will go out to people's
• 14:32:59
  homes, we'll take samples there.
• 14:33:01
  House calls. Yeah, we'll see what it is.
• 14:33:03
  We take our water safety serious and we
• 14:33:05
  want to make sure that
• 14:33:06
  we are providing the best
• 14:33:07
  we can to our residents.
• 14:33:08
  So it's not uncommon for us to actually
• 14:33:10
  go to somebody's home,
• 14:33:12
  draw a sample from their
• 14:33:13
  home it might be, take a look and try to
• 14:33:14
  understand what the situations might be.
• 14:33:16
  We do find sometimes
• 14:33:17
  some interesting situations.
• 14:33:19
  Most of the situations come up with a
• 14:33:22
  problem within
• 14:33:22
  somebody's own internal plumbing.
• 14:33:24
  Many homes are older here and sometimes
• 14:33:26
  things just aren't
• 14:33:27
  connected the way they should
• 14:33:28
  be.
• 14:33:29
  Older pipes or you might have a hot water
• 14:33:31
  tank that may be slowly failing.
• 14:33:34
  Some people have seen discolored water,
• 14:33:36
  brown sludges in their
• 14:33:37
  water and sometimes it's from
• 14:33:39
  something's happened
• 14:33:39
  within their own home plumbing.
• 14:33:41
  But we're more than happy to get out
• 14:33:42
  there, talk to people
• 14:33:43
  and help them feel at ease
• 14:33:44
  that the water that we
• 14:33:45
  deliver to them is safe to drink.
• 14:33:46
  Oh, that's great.
• 14:33:47
  That's great.
• 14:33:48
  That a lot of the data that your team
• 14:33:51
  accumulates proving the
• 14:33:52
  quality of the water is also
• 14:33:54
  available on the city website.
• 14:33:56
  It's not only on the city website but we
• 14:33:57
  also have to upload all
• 14:33:59
  our data to the health
• 14:34:00
  department site.
• 14:34:01
  So we have our data, it's available, it's
• 14:34:04
  publicly available and
• 14:34:05
  we want to show everybody
• 14:34:09
  how good we are.
• 14:34:10
  Sure enough.
• 14:34:10
  The other thing I should mention on that
• 14:34:11
  data is actually timing
• 14:34:14
  is actually perfect on
• 14:34:15
  this because we have just recently
• 14:34:16
  released what we call
• 14:34:18
  our water quality data.
• 14:34:20
  It's a water quality report and it's
• 14:34:22
  every year we're
• 14:34:24
  required as all utilities across
• 14:34:26
  the country requires to publish our
• 14:34:28
  information about all the testing that
• 14:34:31
  we've done, information
• 14:34:33
  about the system, its performance and
• 14:34:35
  it's an extensive list of
• 14:34:37
  analyses that is provided
• 14:34:40
  to the public.
• 14:34:42
  It is now on our website and this is
• 14:34:44
  required by our health
• 14:34:46
  department to produce and it's
• 14:34:48
  out there.
• 14:34:48
  Again, it's where you want to show
• 14:34:50
  everybody what your
• 14:34:50
  drinking water is, what the quality
• 14:34:52
  of your drinking water is and we're proud
• 14:34:54
  to say our water is safe and quality with
• 14:34:55
  drinking water.
• 14:34:56
  And the information is available for
• 14:34:58
  complete transparency,
• 14:34:59
  crystal clear for anyone to
• 14:35:01
  come and get.
• 14:35:02
  Yes.
• 14:35:02
  That's fantastic.
• 14:35:03
  All right, so we've covered a lot of
• 14:35:05
  ground but let's look to the future.
• 14:35:07
  We have a future where we see the
• 14:35:09
  population of our city
• 14:35:10
  growing on a fairly accelerated
• 14:35:12
  rate.
• 14:35:13
  We're using up more water.
• 14:35:14
  What advice do we have for residents now
• 14:35:16
  as far as water
• 14:35:18
  conservation and preserving
• 14:35:19
  the resources that we currently have?
• 14:35:22
  We always ask people to conserve water.
• 14:35:25
  Without a doubt, it's just good practice.
• 14:35:27
  It's expensive to produce that water and
• 14:35:30
  the more we can
• 14:35:30
  conserve, the better everybody
• 14:35:33
  is.
• 14:35:34
  One of the greatest things people can do
• 14:35:35
  is recognize where
• 14:35:36
  water usage or waste may
• 14:35:38
  occur.
• 14:35:39
  The city has an interesting program to
• 14:35:41
  help residents replace toilets.
• 14:35:43
  Believe it or not, as simple as a toilet,
• 14:35:44
  waste a lot of water.
• 14:35:46
  The older toilets needed a
• 14:35:48
  lot more gallons per flush.
• 14:35:51
  Newer toilets have been redesigned and
• 14:35:52
  are much more
• 14:35:53
  efficient in their use of water
• 14:35:55
  and through our offices of
• 14:35:56
  sustainability, we have partnered with
• 14:35:58
  some of the local big
• 14:35:59
  box stores to offer discounts or vouchers
• 14:36:03
  to help people offset
• 14:36:04
  the cost of replacing
• 14:36:05
  those toilets.
• 14:36:07
  We found that that's a significant
• 14:36:08
  savings to residents.
• 14:36:10
  By the way, savings means not only are
• 14:36:12
  you saving water, but
• 14:36:14
  you're also saving money.
• 14:36:16
  That water does cost money.
• 14:36:18
  For every gallon that comes into the
• 14:36:19
  house, you have to pay
• 14:36:21
  for and as well as to help
• 14:36:22
  support the sanitary side of things,
• 14:36:24
  you're also charged
• 14:36:24
  for that water leaving.
• 14:36:26
  If you can reduce the amount of water you
• 14:36:27
  use in your home, there's a savings that
• 14:36:29
  you're doing on your own as well as
• 14:36:31
  helping to overall conserve water.
• 14:36:34
  The other issue right now, I know it's
• 14:36:36
  raining, but irrigation.
• 14:36:38
  Another interesting program that the city
• 14:36:40
  office of
• 14:36:40
  sustainability has is helping people
• 14:36:43
  to recognize better irrigation practices,
• 14:36:47
  whether it's trying to
• 14:36:48
  use more native fluridian
• 14:36:51
  type of plants that may be more
• 14:36:53
  acclimated to the weather
• 14:36:54
  and not need as much water
• 14:36:57
  or also making sure that irrigation
• 14:36:58
  systems are properly set
• 14:37:01
  up, have timers on them,
• 14:37:03
  and especially are aware with the rain
• 14:37:06
  gauge so that you're not
• 14:37:07
  watering when it's raining
• 14:37:08
  out.
• 14:37:09
  I don't know how many times I've driven
• 14:37:10
  by a neighbor's house and
• 14:37:12
  there's this huge fountain
• 14:37:13
  of wasted water pouring onto
• 14:37:15
  the sidewalk and down the drain.
• 14:37:18
  These things need to be maintained and
• 14:37:20
  controlled so that we keep
• 14:37:22
  the water that we have and
• 14:37:24
  we preserve our
• 14:37:26
  resources into the future.
• 14:37:27
  Definitely, definitely.
• 14:37:28
  So however we can conserve water, we
• 14:37:30
  always are proponents of
• 14:37:33
  doing that conservation
• 14:37:34
  efforts, but also still
• 14:37:35
  looking forward and looking ahead.
• 14:37:37
  Our system right now has the capacity to
• 14:37:39
  deliver about 47 million
• 14:37:41
  gallons of water today.
• 14:37:42
  We're not at that.
• 14:37:43
  We don't need to
• 14:37:44
  deliver that much right now.
• 14:37:47
  The populations that we have and our
• 14:37:49
  usage patterns give us
• 14:37:51
  about an average between
• 14:37:52
  35, 36 million gallons a day.
• 14:37:54
  And that's normally here for the City of
• 14:37:56
  West Palm Beach, but
• 14:37:56
  recognize that the City of
• 14:37:58
  West Palm Beach, and going back to our
• 14:38:00
  history, also is a sole
• 14:38:02
  provider of water to the town
• 14:38:04
  of Palm Beach and to the
• 14:38:05
  town of South Palm Beach.
• 14:38:07
  So when we're talking about our water,
• 14:38:09
  it's not just the
• 14:38:10
  City of West Palm Beach.
• 14:38:11
  When I use the word "our," I'm also
• 14:38:13
  including the residents
• 14:38:13
  that we provide to water in
• 14:38:14
  the town of Palm Beach as well as the
• 14:38:16
  town of South Palm Beach.
• 14:38:17
  Wow.
• 14:38:18
  So we not only serve our own residents,
• 14:38:21
  but a huge part of the
• 14:38:22
  barrier, Alan, as well.
• 14:38:24
  Yeah, yeah.
• 14:38:24
  And I think that goes back to our history
• 14:38:26
  of Mr. Flagler as
• 14:38:27
  well as, as I understand,
• 14:38:29
  the town being established initially as a
• 14:38:32
  place where people could seek refuge from
• 14:38:34
  the cold northern winters and we're down
• 14:38:36
  and how that kind of developed.
• 14:38:38
  And then as that grew, then
• 14:38:39
  the West Palm Beach also grew.
• 14:38:42
  And along the way, this
• 14:38:43
  whole water system grew.
• 14:38:45
  Well, those are all smart things for us
• 14:38:46
  to do today to conserve our water.
• 14:38:50
  What are our plans for the future?
• 14:38:51
  What things can we do to make sure that
• 14:38:53
  in the far-flung future,
• 14:38:54
  we always have the water
• 14:38:55
  that the city needs?
• 14:38:57
  Well, thank you.
• 14:38:57
  It's really an important question for
• 14:38:59
  people to understand and know.
• 14:39:02
  There's so many changes happening out in
• 14:39:03
  the world right now.
• 14:39:05
  What we'd like to do in a water business
• 14:39:07
  is make sure we have
• 14:39:08
  resiliency and that we are
• 14:39:09
  always prepared.
• 14:39:10
  We have plenty of supply right now, so
• 14:39:12
  even with the changes
• 14:39:14
  that are happening within
• 14:39:14
  the city, people may see
• 14:39:16
  new buildings going up.
• 14:39:17
  We're in a good position.
• 14:39:19
  We have advanced ample supply for us
• 14:39:23
  under normal conditions.
• 14:39:26
  Again, they're always, Mother Nature
• 14:39:27
  might always throw a
• 14:39:28
  little curve wall at us, but
• 14:39:32
  we really don't want to
• 14:39:32
  just sit back on that.
• 14:39:33
  We still are always planning
• 14:39:35
  and looking into the future.
• 14:39:36
  One thing that we're working on right now
• 14:39:38
  is trying to, is to
• 14:39:40
  seek a permit from the
• 14:39:41
  South Florida Water Management District
• 14:39:43
  to take advantage of,
• 14:39:45
  we mentioned earlier, the
• 14:39:45
  Fleurid and Aquifer, this deep well,
• 14:39:48
  we'll say, of water supply.
• 14:39:51
  What we want to do is we want to be able
• 14:39:52
  to access that water
• 14:39:54
  for our residents and make
• 14:39:56
  sure again that our
• 14:39:57
  long-term supply is varied.
• 14:40:01
  Well, grassy water is a great opportunity
• 14:40:03
  and it's really a pristine supply, but we
• 14:40:06
  know that things may be changing, weather
• 14:40:09
  patterns might be
• 14:40:09
  different in the future,
• 14:40:11
  and we don't want to have all of our
• 14:40:13
  water for our growing
• 14:40:14
  communities reliant upon a
• 14:40:15
  single source.
• 14:40:16
  So we'd like to access and develop the
• 14:40:18
  Fleurid and Aquifer as a
• 14:40:20
  secondary source and be
• 14:40:21
  able to utilize that to help make our
• 14:40:24
  supply a more resilient
• 14:40:26
  supply, a more robust supply.
• 14:40:29
  And to do that, though, it's going to
• 14:40:30
  require some new
• 14:40:31
  treatment techniques as well.
• 14:40:33
  We talked earlier about how we're
• 14:40:34
  utilizing UV light,
• 14:40:36
  ultraviolet light as part of our
• 14:40:37
  disinfection process and back in 2018
• 14:40:40
  when that came online or
• 14:40:42
  so, it's, you know, great
• 14:40:43
  technology.
• 14:40:44
  We're not utilizing that, but we also are
• 14:40:46
  going to look into
• 14:40:46
  exploring membrane technology.
• 14:40:48
  People may have heard
• 14:40:49
  of a reverse osmosis.
• 14:40:52
  It's a type of treatment.
• 14:40:53
  We're going to be exploring that to
• 14:40:55
  utilize with our Fleurid and Aquifer.
• 14:40:57
  Because if we talked earlier, the Aquifer
• 14:40:58
  is brackish and a
• 14:41:00
  membrane technology with
• 14:41:01
  a reverse osmosis type of treatment is
• 14:41:05
  the current to state of
• 14:41:06
  the art for helping to
• 14:41:07
  remove the salinity from that water and
• 14:41:10
  make that water safe to drink.
• 14:41:11
  So we're exploring that as a secondary
• 14:41:14
  option for us so we can
• 14:41:15
  be able to draw water from
• 14:41:17
  the Fleurid and Aquifer.
• 14:41:18
  And we might be able to say, hey, we're
• 14:41:20
  going to utilize that
• 14:41:21
  and maybe we'll taper back
• 14:41:23
  a little bit of what's
• 14:41:23
  coming out of grassy.
• 14:41:25
  We want to be able to provide options so
• 14:41:26
  that we can have the
• 14:41:27
  highest quality robust supply
• 14:41:29
  for our residents here in the city of
• 14:41:31
  West Palm Beach, the
• 14:41:32
  town of Palm Beach and South
• 14:41:33
  Palm Beach and others that might need it
• 14:41:35
  as we go into the future.
• 14:41:36
  We want to really make sure that we are
• 14:41:38
  the well positioned with
• 14:41:41
  city art technology for
• 14:41:42
  everybody.
• 14:41:43
  Well, as a very elaborate plan, it's a
• 14:41:45
  very exciting future.
• 14:41:46
  Thank you.
• 14:41:47
  So let's talk about where people can find
• 14:41:50
  out more information
• 14:41:51
  because we didn't touch
• 14:41:51
  upon that before.
• 14:41:53
  There's information about grassy waters,
• 14:41:54
  both its role in the
• 14:41:56
  water system, but also people
• 14:41:58
  can now people can enjoy it.
• 14:42:00
  That's on the website at wpb.org.
• 14:42:03
  And also there's significant information
• 14:42:06
  that you guys provide
• 14:42:07
  about the latest testing
• 14:42:09
  and the water quality reports also
• 14:42:11
  available on the city website.
• 14:42:13
  Yes.
• 14:42:13
  Now, is there a number that someone can
• 14:42:15
  call if they have any
• 14:42:16
  questions about water?
• 14:42:17
  I know that we have a main number that
• 14:42:20
  people can call,
• 14:42:21
  which is 512-561-822-2222.
• 14:42:30
  And do you have another number?
• 14:42:31
  Actually that's the main number that
• 14:42:32
  really gets you in here
• 14:42:33
  into the city and you can
• 14:42:35
  always move your way through that system.
• 14:42:37
  But 822-2222 is a good number.
• 14:42:42
  This way it gets us into our customer
• 14:42:43
  service center and from
• 14:42:44
  there our representatives
• 14:42:46
  can definitely help people.
• 14:42:47
  Excellent.
• 14:42:47
  Next slide.
• 14:42:48
  Victor, again, thank you so much for this
• 14:42:51
  information, taking
• 14:42:51
  the time to explain all
• 14:42:52
  this to us.
• 14:42:53
  And again, thank you to your team for all
• 14:42:55
  that they do to provide
• 14:42:56
  the high quality water
• 14:42:58
  that the city needs.
• 14:42:59
  Well, thank you very much, Jerry.
• 14:43:00
  And again, thank you to our team.
• 14:43:02
  Without them, we would be nowhere.
• 14:43:04
  So it's the team of workers here at the
• 14:43:06
  City Public Utilities Department.
• 14:43:08
  Thank them for the
• 14:43:09
  work they do every day.
• 14:43:10
  Thank you.
• 14:43:10
  And thank you for
• 14:43:11
  listening to today's discussion.
• 14:43:13
  If you've enjoyed the show, please take a
• 14:43:15
  moment to subscribe so
• 14:43:16
  that you can see more
• 14:43:17
  content.
• 14:43:18
  The City Center podcast is produced by
• 14:43:20
  the City of West Palm Beach
• 14:43:21
  Communications Department.
• 14:43:23
  I'm Jerry Marcello and
• 14:43:24
  we'll see you next time.