COASTAL UTILITIES RESPONSE TO SALTWATER INTRUSION

Transcription

1 COASTAL UTILITIES RESPONSE TO SALTWATER INTRUSION Kathryn Frank and Treavor Boyer With Pedro Palomino, Kathleen Kirsch, and Christina Casler UF Research Opportunity Seed Fund University of Florida, Gainesville

2 SALTWATER INTRUSION & FLORIDA WATER UTILITIES Groundwater is source of drinking water for 90% of Florida residents Saltwater intrusion is a concern on the coast Affected by changes in withdrawals and recharge, and sea level rise

3 SALTWATER INTRUSION HEALTH CONCERN Long-term Coastal Groundwater Stressors Urbanization Agriculture Climate Change Sea Level Rise Saltwater Intrusion Salt ions: Bromide Public Water Supply Disinfection Process Chlorine Disinfection Byproducts Regulated Carcinogenic Compounds

4 RESEARCH PROJECT 1. Model saltwater intrusion with sea level rise. 2. Quantify the relationship between saltwater intrusion and bromide ions. 3. Model the formation of bromide-containing disinfection byproducts 4. Develop an applied science framework Interdisciplinary research team Environmental engineering Treavor Boyer (PI) Paul Chadik Civil and coastal engineering Louis Motz Geological sciences Jonathan Martin Urban and regional planning Kathryn Frank Research assistants

5 APPLIED SCIENCE FRAMEWORK: UTILITIES ADAPTATION PLANNING EPA s Climate Ready Water Utilities Adaptation Strategies Guide Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) Florida Water and Climate Alliance UF Water Institute

6 FLORIDA COASTAL UTILITIES SURVEY Objectives Determine utility concern with saltwater intrusion, sea level rise, and climate change Understand utility planning, management, and adaptation practices Current to long-term Asked utility s Water supply, management, and planning Concerns and strategies Saltwater intrusion Sea level rise Climate change Use of climate adaptation planning tools Response options from EPA documents

7 SURVEY ADMINISTRATION AND RESPONSE Format Online, 37 questions including background, 30 min Summer 2013 Sent to 480 coastal utilities, FDEP list Very low response rate Many surveys unfinished Winter 2013 Changed order of sections, saltwater intrusion first Sent to 225 coastal utilities, TREEO list Low response rate 40 total responses 13 analyzed Groundwater source Answered questions Gave utility ID # Not duplicated Population served >1000 Not representative of all Florida coastal utilities

8 SURVEY RESULTS

9 UTILITY RESPONDENTS 10 counties Populations served Low 1,346 High 156,254 Average 69,713 All 100% groundwater Aquifer types Floridan Biscayne Upper Surficial Sand and Gravel Wellfield distance from coast Average 9 miles Taylor Pasco Collier Flagler Volusia Brevard Martin Palm Beach Broward Miami-Dade

10 UTILITY PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT Last major utility upgrade Average Year 2000 Plan updates Most every 5-10 years 42% of utilities use predictive modeling regularly Average number of parameters monitored for water treatment each day = 16

11 SALTWATER INTRUSION FACTORS AFFECTING UTILITY 17% 33% Increased Drawdown Decreased Recharge 8% 25% 33% 17% Sea Level Rise Other 59% 8% Included Well Rotation and Canal Now In 50 years Saltwater intrusion expected to impact utility: Average Year 2076

12 SALTWATER INTRUSION FEASIBLE AND IMPLEMENTED ADAPTATION STRATEGIES Practice water conservations Install new wells further inland Improve treatment to address WQ issues Limit SWI through barriers and aquifer recharge Facilitate water recycling Implemented Agree Neutral Disagree Connect with regional water supplies Diversify water supply options

13 Number of respondents CLIMATE CHANGE RELATED UTILITY CONCERNS Disagree Neutral Agree 0 Drought Ecosystem Change Service Demand and Use Floods Water Quality Degradation

14 CLIMATE CHANGE INFORMATION AND PLANNING 85% respondents believe climate change is occurring 33% familiar with utility adaptation strategies Frequency discussing climate change at utility At least quarterly Yearly Never

15 CLIMATE CHANGE CURRENT ADAPTATION STRATEGIES Water Demand and Use System Energy and Repair and Retrofit Planning New Construction Monitoring Modeling Ecosystem and Land Number of respondents

16 FACTORS AFFECTING CLIMATE CHANGE PLANNING Utility constraints More immediate problems prioritized Current state of utility and infrastructure Information constraints Insufficient science and uncertainty Insufficient dialog between scientists and utilities Unfamiliar with planning tools No utilities used EPA s Strategies Guide or CREAT

17 CONCLUSIONS Responding utilities have capacity for planning for saltwater intrusion and climate change Many adaptation strategies are already being implemented Need greater understanding of specific impacts and adaptation planning tools Saltwater intrusion is not an imminent concern, but maybe it should be Need to improve two-way communication between scientists, utilities, and policy makers

18 NEXT STEPS IN RESEARCH Focus on Florida utilities Saltwater intrusion monitoring, modeling, adaptation Interest in using adaptation planning tools Water quality concerns; water treatment and disinfection process Utility interviews and case study