Pilot program in Polk County turns wastewater into drinking water
Posted on: November 32rd, 2023
Original Article: https://www.wesh.com/article/polk-county-pilot-program-drinking-water/45738017#
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POLK COUNTY, Fla. —Polk County is running out of water as more and more people move to the area.
There is a solution, but this idea may take a while to set in.
A pilot plant turns treated wastewater into drinking water.
County officials will spend the next several years convincing people it's safe to drink.
"This is our coagulation and sedimentation," said Tamara Richardson, the Polk County utilities director.
Polk County leaders want you to know if, in several years, they send treated wastewater to your faucets, it has been rigorously filtered.
"They're 1/300th the size of a human hair, so the water is forced into them," Richardson said.
Richardson showed us the county's new direct potable reuse pilot plant.
A $2.5 million project funded by the county and Southwest Florida Water Management District.
The water is processed as reclaimed water then it arrives at a new facility to be further treated.
"The bacteria is killed in the ozone, but if something does make it through, this inactivates it so it can no longer reproduce," Richardson said.
This is just a test. For now, the water treated there is used for lawn irrigation, but officials say the county needs to find a way to produce millions more gallons of drinking water a day to meet demand.
"Just as there are limited water supplies in space travel, there is also limited water sources here on Earth," Polk County Commissioner George Lindsey said.
Lindsey compared the idea to how they filter water in space.
While the county also plans to dig into the lower Floridian aquifer for water, he says using treated wastewater is worth exploring, but he knows it may take some persuasion.
"Convincing the general public and the elected officials and the regulatory officials that it's a viable process," Lindsey said.