1) The proposed ASR wells in Rockledge, unlike most existing ASR wells, would inject partially treated sewage waste water into our drinking water aquifer.
2) This injected sewage waste water contains birth control chemicals, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and numerous other unregulated chemicals that can cause human and animal impacts at even trace amounts. The injected sewage wastewater would not be treated for these contaminants prior to injection.
3) Most ASR wells in Florida inject water which is rich in oxygen into groundwater. Oxygen causes arsenic to be released from the surrounding rock and added to the groundwater. Many ASR wells have had to be shut down due to arsenic poisoning the groundwater.
4) ASR wells create groundwater changes that can result in direct, indirect and secondary and cumulative impacts to marine species. (Bacchus 2001) Dr. Bacchus found that changes to the groundwater caused by ASR wells could result in significant physical, chemical and biological changes in the marine ecosystem including 1) predisposing organisms to disease via decreasing their resistance, 2) the introduction of new pathogens into the groundwater and surface waters, 3) promoting the rapid evolution of dangerous microbes, and 4) introducing hazardous chemicals, including endocrine disrupters.
5) Injected sewage water is less dense than the groundwater it is being injected into. It has a tendency to rise and find cracks in the overlying rock layers, moving upward into shallow aquifers and surface waters. McNeill (2001) found deep well injected water passed through confining layers and reached the Floridan Aquifer at a rate 30 times faster than predicted and that the ultimate fate of where this wastewater travels is unknown. McNeill (2001) also concludes the uncertainty in the geology and properties of the confining layers provides no reasonable degree of certainty for the protection of underground sources of drinking water and nearby fragile marine and land-based ecosystems.
6) The National Groundwater Association has a long list of concerns about ASR Wells: What type of treatment is necessary to ensure that no hazardous microbes will survive in groundwater? Will disinfection lead to the formation of carcinogenic compounds that will move to broader ground water areas? What monitoring will be required to ensure that unforeseen water quality problems do not affect broader ground water resources? How will communities be assured that the recharged water will not adversely affect other aquifers or surface water bodies? (NGWA 2008)
7) Due to concerns like these, the State of Georgia has banned ASR wells into the very same Floridan Aquifer.
References
(USGS 2004) US Geological Survey of the US Dept of the Interior Fact Sheet 2004-3128 Nov. 2004
(SJRWMD 2004) Pyne, R, Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Issues and Concepts
(Bacchus 2001) Bacchus, Sydney, Endangered Species Update Vol. 18 No. 3 2001
(Bacchus 2003) Bacchus, Sydney, Conduit Flow: Pathways to Poor ASR Recovery and Subsurface Water Contamination in Florida.
(McNeill 2001) A Review of Upward Migration of Effluent Related to Subsurface Injection at Miami-Dade Water and Sewer South District Plant
(FL DEP) Fluid Movement Associated with Class 1 Deep Injection Facilities in South Florida, Fl DEP website
(US Army Corp 2004) MIrecki, June, Water-Quality Changes During Cycle Tests at Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) Systems of South Florida. June 2004
(NGWA 2008) www.ngwa.org