The permit for the ASR well at Port Canaveral has expired.  According to Carol Noble, Director of Environmental Plans and Projects, “At this time we are not performing any injections or any additional sampling for the ASR project.”

Stay tuned for the upcoming Council meeting date.

The Rockledge City Council narrowly approved (4-3 vote) the motion made by Mayor Larry Schultz and seconded by Georgia Phillips “to approve the scope of services and submit an application for cycle testing to Florida DEP.”   Council members Coleen Stuart and Frank Forester also voted for the motion.  We would like to graciously thank Council members Joe Lee Smith, Richard Blake and Kimberly Prosser for supporting the residents wishes of the Rockledge community and for voting against the motion.

The City still has a LONG way to go to meet the State requirements and prove they meet the applicable Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.) Rules.  The City will be required by FDEP to hold at least two more public hearings before any fluid (potable or otherwise) is discharged into the Floridan aquifer in Rockledge.  This may take years.  SOA will be outlining those hurdles and posting them on this website.  PLEASE NOTE: In the near future City employees will be going door to door armed with a list of questions to ask well owners in order to “physically verify” private wells and their use in the 1-mile radius. The FDEP permit states, “No cycle testing will be allowed in the event there remain any in-use potable wells in the well inventory.”

Save Our Aquifer will continue to educate the public, elected officials and the permitting agencies about the critical need to protect our Underground Source of Drinking Water.  Please stay tuned and let your friends and neighbors know we shall continue to defend our water rights and protect this vital Underground Source of Drinking Water from unnecessary experimental testing.

Please help us spread the word by forwarding this message.

Map to Rockledge City Hall

Talking Points for March 10 Public Hearing on ASR Well Testing,

Facts to consider:

1. ARSENIC: Arsenic, a very dangerous and highly carcinogenic contaminant, would be released into groundwater by injecting oxygen rich water. Cycle testing of ASR wells in Cocoa, Port Canaveral and around the state caused arsenic releases at levels above EPA groundwater standards.

2. CONTAMINATION OF THE AQUIFER: Normally, cycle testing uses potable water, but to save money the City is planning to use reclaimed water as will be used when in operation.  This sewage wastewater, containing birth control chemicals, prescription drugs, fecal coliform, personal care products, plasticizers, endocrine disruptors, and a long list of carcinogenic contaminants, would be injected directly into the Floridan aquifer 370 to 470 feet deep.  Once polluted, our Underground Source of Drinking Water (USDW) would be contaminated permanently.

3. HIGHLY FRACTURED, NON-CONFINING AQUIFER: According to a 2008 letter by Rockledge’s ASR engineers, Jones, Edmunds and Associates (JEA), the top of the Floridan aquifer in Rockledge is: “highly fractured with large conduit flow zones.”  Geologists consider the confining layer, the layer that separates the surficial aquifer from the Floridan, to be too thin (less than 35 feet) to prevent the upward flow of injected sewage wastewater into the surficial aquifer and the Indian River Lagoon.  At least 480 private wells are known to exist within one mile of the injection site.  82 of those wells are into the Floridan aquifer, 353 wells are surficial and 45 are of unknown depth.

4. RECOMMENDATIONS IGNORED: Despite the 2004 JEA Reuse Study that stressed conservation and metering as an integral part of short- and long-term reclaimed water solutions, the City has delayed implementing these steps until recently and only after spending millions of dollars on the ASR well.  Conserving reclaimed water through metering, enforcement and public education campaigns would save more than 50% of reclaimed water and make an ASR well unnecessary. Additionally, initial estimates of city growth and reclaimed water projections proved inaccurate and have not been updated.

5. WATER RIGHTS:  The City was required by the FDEP and Florida Rule 62-610.563(6) to own and operate all potable wells within a one mile radius of the injection site because the proposed injections would contaminate the aquifer and pose a risk to public health. The 2006 “well ban” ordinance was enacted without personal notice to the approximately 2,000 property owners in the one-mile radius.  No compensation has been offered to owners with private wells for contaminating their well water – this constitutes an inverse taking of water rights.

6. ALL PAY, FEW BENEFIT: Citizens of Rockledge were taxed for the ASR well and reclaimed water lines, however just 15% have access to  reclaimed water.

7. EXPERIMENTAL INJECTIONS: The City is proposing to inject 230 million gallons of reclaimed water over a two-year period to conduct the cycle tests.  Actual recovery rates are unknown but a percentage of the injected water would never be recovered.  The FDEP does not impose any recovery requirement; the only criteria is being “economically feasible”.

8. NOT CONSERVATION: In conjunction with the ASR well system, the City plans to annually extract 78 million  gallons from the Upper Floridan Aquifer to augment the reclaimed water system. That’s equivalent to 52 Cocoa Water Towers each year.

9. SAFE SOLUTIONS: The top priority should be to protect and conserve clean water, such as the Floridan aquifer under Rockledge.  Conserving water used in homes by encouraging water saving toilets, shower heads, and washers, also reduces wastewater amounts.  Reclaimed water can be conserved by metering the users, and adopting a rate structure, estimated to save  50% or  more of Rockledge’s reclaimed water.  Encouraging homeowners to landscape with Florida friendly plants that survive without maintenance or irrigation would further reduce demand. Reclaimed water can be safely stored in above ground storage tanks.  Don’t pollute our Underground Source of Drinking Water to water lawns.

Download these talking points in pdf format, also the poster (jpeg format).

Location map: Rockledge Wastewater Treatment Plant

For the location of the library, click on this link.

Response to the ACLU is requested by May 29, after which a suit may be brought against the City if they continue denying SOA’s desire to place signs.

In July, SOA members asked the City for permission to place these signs on private property with the owners consent and where they could be seen by people traveling over US 1. They were denied saying that such signs would be illegal, calling them “snipe” signs. The ACLU has asked for a written response by December 3, after which a suit may be brought against the City if the City intends to enforce that regulation.

Update: On December 5, 2008 the City of Rockledge granted Save Our Aquifer permission to post “No ASR well” signs on private property. SOA has posted a $100 bond with the City of Rockledge and will be collecting permission forms from private property owners in Rockledge in order to post signs and raise awareness among the community about the issue. The maximum size of the signs allowed is 32 square feet or 4×8 feet. Contact SOA at info@saveouraquifer.org if you are interested in permitting SOA to post a sign on your property, or go to the link below to print and fill out the “Political Sign Authorization Form” and mail it to: Save Our Aquifer, P. O. Box 251, Cocoa, Fla. 32923.

Political Sign Authorization Form:
http://www.cityofrockledge.org/2008%20Election/politicaladvsection.html
Note: Please write in Save Our Aquifer as the “Name of the Candidate or Referendum Issue” on the City form.