1990.07.17_TC_Minutes_SpecialTOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH, FLORIDA
Minutes of Meeting of Town Commission
SPECIAL MEETING
Tuesday, July 17, 1990 9:00 A.M.
The Special Meeting of the Town Commission of the Town of Highland
Beach, Florida, was called to order at 9:00 A.M. by Mayor Joseph A.
Boulay in the Commission Chambers at Town Hall. The Mayor noted this
Meeting was called for the purpose of discussing the Town's long term
water needs. Others present were Vice Mayor Bill Paul, Commissioners
Marvin A. Waldman, Betty Jean Stewart and Harold C. Chambers.
Also in attendance were Town Manager Mary Ann Mariano, Town Clerk Anne
M. Kowals, South Florida Water Management District's Director of Permit-
ting Steve Lamb, Lake Worth Drainage District Manager William G.
Winters, and J. M. Montgomery (the Town's Consulting Engineers) repre-
sentatives: Vice President, Dr. Edward D. Wetzel; Supervising Engineer
T. Clay Blanton; and Hydrogeologist Pat Gleason; Water Resources
Advisory Board Chairman Arthur Keller and Regular Member Irwin Rome;
Highland Beach Utility Director Jack Lee; Police Chief William Cecere as
well as interested members of the general public.
The Mayor, noting receipt this date of a letter to Town Manager Mary Ann
Mariano from South Florida Water Management District, dated July 16,
1990, requested the Town Clerk read same into the record. The letter
stated that the Town's application (No. 890124-9; permit no. 50-00346-W)
is complete and that SFWMD would recommend issuance of a permit for one
year to the Governing Board on October 11, 1990. A copy of said letter
is attached to and made a part of these Minutes. Following reading of
the letter, Mayor Boulay noted that the Town has met the criteria for an
extension of a permit and S.F.W.M.D. has looked favor-ably upon the
Town's application.
At Mayor Boulay's request, Dr. Ed Wetzel, reviewing how the Town arrived
to the point it is at today, noted that in 1987 Camp, Dresser & McKee
prepared a long term water supply study for the Town of Highland Beach
in which they looked at 13 alternatives ranging from finished water
interconnects with Boca Raton or Delray Beach, alternative sites for
surficial wellfields (notably Texas Trail and Pheasant Walk), possible
use or purchasing of raw water from Delray Beach or Boca Raton and also
considered some type of a reverse osmosis treatment facility for the
Town. The first assignment given to J. M. Montgomery was for their
engineers to work with the Town to attempt to affect an agreement with
Boca Raton to purchase finished water in lieu of doing the treatment in
Highland Beach. Dr. Wetzel, along with then Mayor Stewart, approached
the Boca City Council for use of their finished water; the Boca Council
had no interest in this matter. We were requested to review the CDM
alternatives once again and return to the Town with a recommendation for
a more detailed study of a select number of alternatives. We suggested
the Town look at a few alternatives, particularly the use of the Texas
Trail Site in Boca Raton as a possible surficial aquifer wellfield;
also, the consideration of reverse osmosis treatment system for the Town
and we were prepared to look at another alternative which was an inter-
connect with Palm Beach County (which County was willing to provide
r
.~
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 2 of 33
water to the Town, as per a letter from Bevin Beaudet, Director of Water
Utilities for Palm Beach County, if a suitable agreement could be drawn
up). J. M. Montgomery presented this alternative to the Town in a form
of a propo-sal for a study at which time the Town advised that they
would prefer to simply look at the reverse osmosis option and not look
at any other options at that time. The Town asked that we expand the
scope for the reverse osmosis to include not only the existing site for
an r/o facility but also for a site on the island at Town Hall. That
resulted in the culmination of this particular report dated February of
1990 which looked at essentially four alternatives for reverse osmosis
for the Town. Dr. Wetzel distributed a table which looks at the five
alternatives that were considered: a reverse osmosis of Floridan
Aquifer fed reverse osmosis facility either at the existing site on the
main land or here on the island; and, also looking at the alternative of
disposal of the concentrate by either deep injection wells or by Intra-
coastal Waterway. Those four permutations of the options are presented
as Items 1 thru 4 with a preceived capacity of 2.2 mgd with the capital
costs ranging from 6.0 to 8.4 million dollars for those four alterna-
tives. Also considered was another alternative as an off-shoot of that
which alternative was not to construct the full 2.2 mgd of capacity
initially but rather construct only 0.75 mgd of r/o capacity and conti-
nue to operate the existing lime-softening facility and blend the
finished waters from the two plants. One advantage to this alternative
is the initial capital cost of only constructing part of the r/o capa-
city which is about 3.5 million dollars. The report went on to analyze
these alternatives not just on a capital cost basis but it also took
into consideration the operation maintenance cost over the life cycle
of the facilities and bring it back to a present worth investigation
analysis to determine which would be the most cost effective. Based on
these alternatives, the phase approached, even if you construct all
three phases, which you may never need to do, if they are constructed
over time you are delaying the capital investment on down the road and
you get to continue to operate your lime plant for a period of time,
over the life-cycle, this would be the most cost effective alternative
of the r/o alternatives considered. Dr. Wetzel stressed that this re-
port was simply an analysis of reverse osmosis and the options of
reverse osmosis. J. M. Montgomery's recommendation states that this
needs to be considered and compared with other alternatives that the
Town may find of interest. It was noted that we are here today because
there may be other alternatives that were not presented in the original
CDM document and have never been considered as one of the alternatives
for the Town. A copy of J. M. Montgomery's Capital Cost Estimates for
R.O. Treatment Alternatives (as explained by Dr. Wetzel) are attached to
and made a part of these Minutes.
Mayor Boulay noted that one of the other alternatives that has not been
in either of these studies is the new concept of regionalization of the
water supply in Palm Beach County. The Mayor asked if Steve Lamb of the
S.F.W.M.D. could tell the Commission of this possibility stands a chance
of succeeding during the Town's one year extension request, or if not,
3
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 3 of 33
what would be the Town's chances for extending the permit indefinitely
as South Florida moves toward regionalization? Mr. Lamb responded that
the District is making a major effort to get a regionalization approach
adopted in Palm Beach County and they have initiated that through the
Planning Council; we are in the early phases of that - I don't think
that anything may come to fruition during the one year period to supply
water. Now, it may be, depending on how rapidly it get pulled together.
Mayor Boulay, noting the Town now has the possibility of a one year
extension, questioned if, regionalization is in process at the end of
that year, can the Town's permit be extended again. Mr. Lamb responded
"that's a possibility; we could evaluate it at the time and see how
that's going. The issue - there is the intrusion occurring in the
existing wellfield so, the rapidity of resolving that issue is of
importance by the district. If the regional approach is under way and
looks encouraging, then that's something we could reinvestigate at the
time". When Mayor Boulay asked if that would have a bearing on the next
permit, Mr. Lamb stated "It would, yes it would". Relative to region-
alization, when Mayor Boulay inquired as to what the mechanics are
(would it mean a new wellfield further West or using the existing well-
fields), Mr. Lamb answered "being in its early stages, it could take
• many forms. It could be a regional approach similar to Broward County
where there is a centralized wellfield being planned to supply addi-
tional water to some of its cities; or, it could be a planning regional
approach with the system of interconnects similar to what's being
adopted in Lee County. Until the group gets together and we can formu-
late the program, it's not clear on which direction it will go; that
will be up to the members and the parties within that regionalization".
When the Mayor asked if Mr. Lamb was speaking of the Planning Council or
of the individual municipalities, Mr. Lamb stated "the Planning Council
is an entity that we've been talking to to pull this together through a
series of Interlocal Agreements. That's one avenue that we've looked at
on adopting a regional authority". The Mayor's next question was "Who
would be the payee if we had to put in a complete new wellfield? How is
that cost shared"? Mr. Lamb asked "If there were a regional wellfield
in the center part of the County? I'm not sure how that would work out;
there's probably insight that can be gained from some of the other
counties that adopted that approach". The Mayor noted that, in any
case, it will cost a considerable amount of money if we go to the
regionalization. Mr. Lamb commented "I would think so". Mayor Boulay
questioned if we would be required to hook into the regionalization
system if we were to solve our long term water supply to the satisfac-
tion of the S.F.W.M.D. Steve Lamb's response was "I do not think anyone
would be required to look into; I think if the benefits of being in a
regional authority, regardless of the source, would be something that
each Town or City would want to look into. Whether you go into the
Floridan or you utilize the surficial aquifer, there'll be other users
of that same source that you would want to deal with through a regional
authority, I would think. I think the benefits to be gained would be a
part of any of your considerations. In Lee County, there were some
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 4 of 33
members that did not want to join initially; but, they worked out the
interlocal agreement so that there was a one year period where they
could be a member of it and see whether it was going to be of any
benefit to them, and, at the end of that time, they could come back out
of the regional authority". When the Mayor questioned if they still
kept their own water, Mr. Lamb's reply was "Absolutely".
Vice Mayor Paul, noting that Dr. Wetzel is not promoting r/o at this
point, asked Dr. Wetzel if he could give some of the benefits of pur-
suing in that direction and the phasing in process. Dr. Wetzel respond-
ed "I believe that the phasing of the r/o provides several advantages;
indeed, it would provide an insurance policy for the future. There are
several issues at work here: 1. is there is a salt water front moving
toward your western wellfield (I will concur to the hydrogeologist here
to try to take a stab at when that front might hit the wellfield and,
even indeed, what's the cause of that front moving), but that's an issue
and that's really how this whole process got started as a concern over
the integrity of that wellfield in the long polls. So, that's one issue
at work. The second issue at work are the long term of the new drinking
water regulations that have been promulgated by E.P.A. which will start
to take effect next year and, over the next five years, will have signi-
ficant impacts on all water utilities. R/0 seems to provide a certain
degree of benefit toward meeting those requirements because it is very
effective at removing organics. And so, that's one of the advantages
that an r/o type system provides. Why is the phasing a good idea? I
think the phasing is a good idea because there is a long process by
which you have to get these kinds of facilities permitted. You have to
get the permit on the floridan aquifer well; you have to get the permit
on the discharge into the Intracoastal. If you can go through that
permitting process and get your oar in the water, if you will, once you
get phase 1 permitted, then the following phases are fairly easy to move
forward with. If you sit back and not do very much and suddenly you
find that your salt water front is very close to your wellfield, now you
are forced to do something very quickly. So, the idea, with a relative-
ly small capital investment up front, you can kind of position yourself
to meet future drinking water regulations to be prepared in case the
salt water front hits the wellfield and, I think it provides an excel-
lent degree of insurance for the future. I might add that at this point
in time you may not even want to go to the extent of putting in any
constructed facilities other than a monitoring system to really monitor
the salt water front over time and, secondly, you may want to go ahead
and construct a floridan well to pull up some water to look at the
quality because indeed the cost estimates that were presented are based,
and Clay can go through this in detail, if you like, on a lot of assump-
tions--assumptions about the quality and quantity of the floridan
aquifer beneath the existing plant over in Boca Raton. It would be use-
ful to find out what that quality and quantity is in reality so that we
can further refine the cost estimates for you".
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 5 of 33
Commissioner Waldman noted that in J. M. Montgomery's estimated costs,
they did not take into consideration the cost of replacing membranes;
nor how long the membranes last. Supervising Engineer Clay Blanton
advised that the cost of replacing the membranes is taken into account;
it's part of the replaceables in the calculations in the back of the
report and we assumed that the membranes would last a period of five
years in this particular case. Mr. Blanton noted that he has plants
with membranes that have been operating in excess of eleven years, so
far operating with floridan water and, indeed, we're finding that it
depends on the care and maintenance taken with the membranes and being
very careful in their operation. In response to Commissioner Waldman's
question, Mr. Blanton advised the the cost of replacing membranes of
this size and type for a 2.2 mgd operation usually run on the order of
$950.00 per element (somewhere around $1,000.00) $950.00 was the cost
per element that was used. And, in this case, there are 468 elements.
The elements make up almost half of the equipment--replaceable cost in
a plant is very expensive. It is a cost that we would hope you will not
have to face every five years and it is a cost that we feel, on a
conservative report like this, has to be evaluated in the cost of oper-
ating a reverse osmosis plant.
• The Vice Mayor, commenting on some talk and newspaper articles regarding
the use of IQ water from the C-15 canal which would drop the usage out
of our existing western wellfield, noted it would cost 4 million dollars
for a distribution system, questioned: 1. if that would relieve some of
the pressure from our western wellfield; 2. are we going to take salt
water intrusion as a given that it is approaching our western wellfield;
and, if so, is our wellfield the sole reason for salt water intrusion--
are there any other factors acting on our western wellfield bringing on
this salt water intrusion. Dr. Wetzel responded that "With regard to
the use of some other form of irrigation quality water, we didn't run
any numbers as you know on what the costs might be, and so forth, and we
would be happy to do that. There are alternate ways you could irrigate
the Town, certainly with either reclaimed water potentially from the
Boca Raton Wastewater Plant or with some other source such as, I under-
stand that consideration has been given to the C-15 canal. Those are
all potential alternatives that have not been considered to date and
could be considered; and, certainly the use of some kind of alternate
supply for irrigation water would reduce the requirement at the treat-
ment plant. We really don't know what percentage of your water is used
for irrigation; what percentage is used for potable usage but, you could
likely assume perhaps 50/50 so that you could reduce the requirement on
your treatment plant to maybe instead of 2 mgd to roughly 1 mgd. That
doesn't though get you out of the problem that there still is something
that needs to be done in the water plant and the wellfield. So, that
would still have to be addressed. And, as to what the cause of the salt
water intrusion is and whether reducing the pumpage at that wellfield
• would have an impact on that, I'll turn it over to the hydrogeologist".
• Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 6 of 33
Hydrogeologist, Pat Gleason, with J. M. Montgomery, stated "Obviously,
I think Steve and I both ought to answer this question. I can give you
my perspective and then, let me pass it over to Steve so he can give you
his perspective as well. As far as whether Highland Beach is really the
sole cause of the salt water intrusion problem, my opinion is that High-
land Beach's withdrawal is fairly minor. There are a lot of things that
happened in Palm Beach County, and a lot of things that are continuing
to happen in Palm Beach County that could be contributing to the salt
water intrusion problem. First of all, when Palm Beach County was ini-
tially developed, there was an overall lowering of the ground water
levels just by drainage activities within Palm Beach County. That in
fact could have caused the salt water in phase 2 to move inland, and
because it moves inland so slowly that actually could continue to be
happening. This has been explored in other counties way down to Broward
County and there is a belief that this is also what we may be seeing the
process that may be actually causing salt water intrusion down in that
area. So, overall just drainage of the area. There are also other
users, other golf course users, there's also of course a large wellfield
actually to the west of Highland Beach - Boca Raton - that may be con-
tributing to this as well. And so, there are a number of other users
• that may be contributing to salt water intrusion here. Again, consider
that Highland Beach's withdrawal is fairly minor; a million gallons a
day, a little bit plus or minus on an average day basis, compared to
some substantial withdrawals farther to the west. A process that we
don't really think much about is that actually the sea level is rising a
foot or a half of foot per 100 years, and that small increase in sea
levels could also be contributing to a migration of the salt water front
farther to the west. So, it's putting an awfully big burden on the Town
to say that the Town is the source of the salt water intrusion problem
that we're seeing and that consequently, if we were to eliminate all of
Highland Beach's withdrawals, we may still continue to see some movement
of the salt water interface somewhere. That remains to be seen how much
Highland Beach actually has as an influence on the salt water interface.
You have some other questions in there also and I think some other
gentleman here could probably address those as well; and Steve, and I
think Bill Winters, about C-15 as a source of water and also I Q Water
and its effect. So, let me pass this on".
Mr. Steve Lamb of S.F.W.M.D. stated: "The salt water intrusion that's
occurring is documented in the monitoring system that some of your staff
have that we've been ..monitoring for the last several years. It's
fairly complicated how the dstYi:ct'sprocess works on allocation. It's
true, there are a number of users of this surficial aquifer adjacent and
around Highland Beach. Without going into the whole process, under
State Law where Chapter 373 Florida Statues which is "Guides to Water
Management District in doing allocations", there are criteria that have
. to be met in order to increase withdrawals from particular sources.
And, one of the criteria is if there's long term advancement in salt
water intrusion, the district can't recommend additional increases.
• Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 7 of 33
There's also criteria in there that other users can't impact legal uses,
in this case Highland Beach. So, if there are other utilities or other
users around Highland Beach, their impacts, should they be the senior
user, Highland Beach would be protected from them if Highland Beach had
the rights. Now, it's fairly complicated how we go through this pro-
cess; but, as we do the evaluations of other users, take into consider-
ation their impacts on Highland Beach so that that, hopefully, would be
minimized as an impact in causing additional intrusion of this area.
Same way, if there are people impacting, we would try to get them to
reduce their withdrawals so as not to impact Highland Beach. That's the
process we're in now. There is a quantity of water that can be with-
drawn without exceeding our criteria and that's what we're attempting to
get to. Our letter in response to the request by Highland Beach was to
extend the permit for one year while evaluation was done on an alterna-
tive source, or supplemental sources, to the existing wellfield. Now,
as we go through that process, as what's in the letter presented to us
by the Town Manager, was a process over a number of months to evaluate
these alternatives and come back to the district with the selected one.
And, there are many choices, as you've heard today, from the CDM report
plus some other ones that have been discussed--I Q Water; C-15 canal--
• and some of those have higher merit than the others because of depend-
ability of source, water quality of source and those can all be investi-
gated through this time period which is where the District is in
response to the request by the Town of Highland Beach".
Continuing, Vice Mayor Paul commented that "As long as we are up to the
permit, in our communications there have been some suggestions that
maybe the Commission should deal directly with you and then go to the
engineers. Is that your wish that we should continue as we are where
we're dealing through our engineers and the Town Manager with you?" Mr.
Lamb's reply was "Generally, we deal with an agent of a municipality
through the consultant; mostly there are very technical issues that we
are trying to resolve on putting in a wellfield and we deal with those
technical issues with the consultants. If they come back, generally,
we'll see they'll come up with some options--present that to the Town
Council, or whatever, and then come back with the selected option to the
Water Management District and then we go through our process of permit-
ting which generally takes quite some time if it's complicated". When
the Vice Mayor stated "Then, that's your preferred method of operation",
Mr. Lamb answered "That's what we prefer".
Town Manager Mariano asked "Over the South County Region, if our pumpage
is minimal, does this mean that reducing our pumpage from the western
wellfield may in fact not prolong or stall the movement of that wedge
due to the other factors? Is there a way we can--some sort of off-set
to reduce pumpage, would that not stall it or prolong the time it gets
to us because of all the other things that you've ". .. Mr. Lamb said "The
criteria within the District is not to allow that salt water front to
get to the wellfield. Our policy is to stabilize that front to keep it
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
• July 17, 1990
Page $ of 33
from moving to balance the withdrawals to the point so that they don't
cause the intrusion in the first place. Withdrawals and its impact on
salt water intrusion is again a complicated issue. It's not just where
or how much withdrawal is, but its nearness to the impacted area,
perhaps even the operations of how that is pumped and operation sched-
ules on that (number of wells, how far they're spread out, draw-down its
imposed) there are a lot of issues that go in. I think that if you do
reduce pumpage in certain areas then that has a positive effect and you
know where you are. We've seen that in some of the actions in Broward
County, particularly in the diplomat area by very stringently cutting
back water withdrawals, in fact terminating Hallendale's wellfield, we
got that front stabilized along with denying some other actions that
were in that area." The Town Manager commented "We have no control on
what happens behind us, you know, that we would need help in controlling
what happens to the other factors who are also impacting our wellfield
indirectly". Mr. Lamb replied, "That's right."
Following that discussion, Lake Worth Drainage District Manager
commented "The Lake Worth Drainage District covers pretty much of the
central and southern Palm Beach County area - 218 square miles. We, for
the last 75 years, have been recharging the aquifer. What we do is we
pump water out of the conservation area out of the chain of lakes (Lake
• Ida, Lake Eden, Lake Osborne, the Palm Beach Canal and the Hillsboro
Canal) and lift that water 16' above sea level into the canal system for
ground water recharge. Now, that water today is recharging the aquifer
and replacing the water coming out of the wellfields that are west of
the coastal-ridge. Now, we had a U.S.G.S. study that your Town shared a
minor amount of money on, as well as most of the other municipalities in
our District. The U.S.G.S. study and the S.F.W.M.D. study enforced the
issue that the level of water needs to stay there. You are getting salt
water coming to your wellfield from the ocean; we are getting also salt
water coming from the conservation area (the Everglades - there's an
under-laying area out there moving to the east). So, whatever water
that is taken from the area west of you also affects your wellfield.
Right now, L.W.D.D. has entered into interlocal agreements with Boca,
Delray, Boynton and Palm Beach County on recharging. Right now, they
have entered an agreement with us to pay any extra expenses that the
District may need to get into in the future for additional recharge
systems. If you go to the C-15 area for usage of water, we would like
to join in with you. Now, this would be the start of a regional system.
We've got it started. We are all looking at it and I think it's very
important that your city continues to look on that effort. Somewhere,
your wellfield, along the way, is going to end up with salt water intru-
sion. The pressure coming to the west is growing more and more. So,
you really should continue the efforts, no matter what you do today, you
should continue the efforts to look to a regionalized system. You are
going to need, somewhere in that future, to get water from the western
reaches. Now, I don't know what your consultants have talked to you
• about; but, as far as South Florida's own study - a U.S.G.S. study
. Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 9 of 33
that's taken place - it will reflect that you're going to have to get
additional water supply to the west. Now, L.W.D.D. is committed to
holding the water tables as high as we can out there, to recharge the
system as long as we can. And, I'm here today to pledge our cooperation
with you." When Mayor Boulay inquired if the L.W.D.D. has an unlimited
amount of water that it can provide, Mr. Winters responded "No sir, it
is storm water. It is all coming from basically Lake Okeechobee, being
brought down through South Florida system to us. We are pumping into
our system right now at 350,000 gallons of water a minute. That does
recharge the system. And, quite a bit of that is directly going into
the aquifer". The Mayor commented "We have just come through a period
of excessive rainfall that gives you more water to pump around. Suppose
we get into a long, long term drought?" Mr. Winters replied "We just
came out of a 23 month drought. Now, during that drought, our system
was lowered along the eastern coast (we were asked to cut back our pump-
ages on the east border) by South Florida. We did so. We only started
those pumping systems up when we received rain, rather than discharge
water to the ocean, which we do. During the drought, yes, you do have a
cut-back. If Lake Okeechobee can not bring water back to us, we're all
going to be without water. What we are promoting and have been for the
• last 5 or 6 years is looking at a regionalized system of taking our
storm water, instead of discharging it to the ocean and wasting that
water, creating a reservoir system where it could be stored between the
conservation area and State Road 7, possibly looking into aquifer re-
charge". Mayor Boulay stated "The aquifer we're talking about now would
be the surface aquifer", to which Mr. Winters responded "Yes". When the
Mayor asked "How about if we went the other way into a deep well?" Mr.
Winters answered "That is something that we haven't discussed and it
would be totally up to S.F.W.M.D. and D.E.R." When Mayor Boulay stated
"Your system doesn't recharge anything but the surface aquifer" Mr.
Winters answered "That's correct. The surface aquifer holds that pres-
sure down for the salt water intrusion".
Commissioner Chambers, directing his questions to Mr. Winter and Mr.
Lamb, stated "In the course of my own research, looking into the prob-
lems, I've been taught to look at the water resource almost as a water
inventory. We've got basic sources, we have multiple aquifers; but,
in irrigation quality water, you've got the C-15 as a potential and then
you've got the Boca, as well as the Delray, discharge, effluent dis-
charge to be treated and used for irrigation, as is being done in some
cases now. The C-15, at the gate, toward 5-40, would you suppose that a
half million gallons per day on an annualized average would be of signi-
ficant impact to you?" Mr. Lamb's reply was "Not a lot of water"; Mr.
Winter's responded "No, sir, not to us at all". Mr. Lamb stated "In
response though, there are many, many users of the C-15 system and it's
. ultimately connected by just a flow to C-51 which is our main recharge
system for a central part of Palm Beach County and which, Lake Worth
Drainage District, West Palm Beach, Acme Drainage District, a large
number of the utilities rely on that system. The number of wellfields
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 10 of 33
that are adjacent to the E-4 canal coming down, which is the conveyance
system to C-15 from C-51, there are a large number of utilities that
would rely on that so our attempt is to maintain that reach C-15 at a
high enough level that we are maintaining a recharge boundary and pro-
hibiting salt water intrustion from the coast. So, there are many uses
of that system that would have to be evaluated on whether there is any
additional water that can be allocated from that for irrigation use.
Now that, I don't know all the answers of that right now; but, it's also
not a very dependable source because of that action. And, this year,
the L.W.D.D. was asked to terminate withdrawals from that in an attempt
to try to recharge the coastal communities. There are times when that
water may not be available (somewhat like this year) and, it is also not
the best water quality, although it's not that bad. There are a lot of
considerations that would go into our determination on whether there
would be any water that could be allocated for it. On the other hand,
I Q water is outside our jurisdiction; we don't even, we don't issue
permits for the use of I Q water. So, that is a source that is, from
our perspective, a very good use to use something that would be injected
or discharged out to tide. We'd encourage looking at that source".
Vice Mayor Paul asked "Are you saying that we could not be guaranteed
water out of C-15 for any use over a long term even for I Q?" Mr. Lamb
responded "That is a difficult area for the District to recharge so
there could be times when there would be restrictions imposed on that
source, as there were this year. That's correct". The Vice Mayor said
"For any use whatsoever". Mr. Lamb advised "That's correct".
Commissioner Chambers, following up on the discussion, stated "While at
times the C-15 may not be available, there is sufficient inventory
between Boca, Delray (their waste treatment plants) and the C-15 to
probably generate ample I Q water for the Town. Would that be a safe
statement?" Mr. Lamb answered "It may be. I wouldn't know what their
capabilities are". Commissioner Chambers asked "In the future, does
S.F.W.M.D. plan to actually mandate the use of reclaimed water?" Mr.
Lamb replied "We've already been doing that in areas of concern and
there is discussion that that program be expanded. We will know in the
next couple of months".
Mayor Boulay said "There is research that came from the CDM report that
we have ourselves water that we could use for I Q, if we care to use it,
we could pump our wastewater to Delray for treatment. I think we will
always have plenty of wastewater, but the engineers on that discounted
it because it was too expensive and it really did not stop our basic
problem of the salt water intrusion into the wells; it is west, but that
wedge, and I think Mr. Lamb might agree with me, in the test wells (the
monitoring wells) the chloride has continually gone up over the last 30
years. So, there's no reason to believe that they're not going to
continue to go up". Mr. Lamb stated "Not at the existing pumpages in
the area, no, I wouldn't think so".
a
• Town Commission
July 17, 1990
Page 11 of 33
Special Meeting Minute
Commissioner Waldman said "I think I have learned quite a bit today and
I'd like to thank these gentlemen for giving up their time and answering
our questions".
Commissioner Stewart said "I would ask you, Mayor, if these gentlemen,
since you've kind of become aloof right here, if these gentlemen them-
selves have come with something that they would like to tell us that
they have not had the opportunity to do so because we have interjected
our questions prior to each of them having a chance to speak, so I would
like to have that before we start with, because I have questions but I'd
rather let them address the issues that they think we should know first.
I realize Dr. Wetzel gave us his opinion but I'm just wondering if any
of the others who are all here had something they wanted to tell us that
they haven't told us".
Hydrogeologist Pat Gleason stated "I think, just to kind of review the
big picture, and that is what is it that we're really trying to do in
the Town of Highland Beach? And, I think it's really to come up with an
overall long range water supply plan. The question is, what are the
problems and how does the Town face them; and, the over-riding problem
• is the salt water intrusion problem and a need for a public water
supply. You somehow have to face the problem of salt water intrusion.
It's not clear that salt water intrusion, the future of salt water
intrusion is not known. We don't know whether the salt water front is
going to stabilize or whether it'll just march all the way through the
wellfield and eliminate the existing wellfield. So, the question really
is - what does the Town do; and, it looks like there's a number of dif-
ferent approaches (and I think these have been brought out really in the
CDM report). In part, there are other new ones now. The ones that
stick out are, I think, obtaining water supply from Boca in the future.
That is something that has been explored for a very long time. R/0, of
course, is another possibility and also development of a wellfield, say
along Texas Trail, something like that. Anything that can perhaps can
cut down on withdrawals from the existing wellfield may help. It is not
exactly a sure thing. But, it may help. An r/o would do that; re-use
would do that; another wellfield would do that. So, I think, really
what we're trying to get at is the long range alternative water supply
plan for the Town. And, the question is really still what way should we
goy ~~
Mayor Boulay advised "The cost is also a consideration, it's a big
factor in the decision. So, if we're going to use a bandaid approach to
a serious problem (rather than major surgery) then I think that's not
spending the taxpayers money very wisely. I think we need to come up
with the best answer at the best price and I think the financing on this
is a major factor. We do not have unlimited funds to spend but we have
• to do something. If it's just prolonging the agony, I don't think
that's doing anything at all".
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 12 of 33
Commissioner Waldman stated "I've listened to a lot here but I haven't
heard anybody address the cause of the water shortage and what we can do
about that. There are 1,000 people a day coming to South Florida, and
that is fact. Now sooner or later, if we don't do something about stop-
ping the influx of people, we're never going to have enough water no
matter what you do. .Somehow or other, you've got to tell cities 'this
is it - no more units - we can only take care of what you've got and not
any more. Now, when you tell them that, when you stop that, you can
build r/o til you're blue in the face but you're going to run out of
water. And, that's as simple as the nose on your face. And, that's the
cause--we should go back to the cause and do something about it. Now,
how you do that, I don't know". Mayor Boulay, addressing Commissioner
Waldman, said "I don't think the Town of Highland Beach's decision will
have a whole lot to do with the State of Florida allowing growth". Com-
missioner Waldman said "If somebody doesn't stop the growth somewhere,
it might have to start with the Town of Highland Beach--maybe someone
else will stand up and take notice". The Mayor responded "I think we've
done that in the Town of Highland Beach. The problem, of course, is
the 1,000 people a day that actually move here to live and take advant-
age of all that Florida has to offer, one of the great things is drink-
. ing water and they use a lot of it". Vice Mayor Paul said "As far as
stopping the influx, I believe Sarasota County is quite serious about
the no growth ordinance and the people are just lined up waiting to file
suit". Commissioner Waldman commented "Well, it's like the governor of
Hawaii saying we want you to come here and visit but please go home".
Commissioner Chambers, addressing Steve Lamb, said "You suggested that
legislatively your mandate allowed for you to take action when one muni-
cipality adversely impacts the water supply of another municipality. My
thinking, of course, is that Boca in West Boca, even if we stopped pull-
ing out of this aquifer right now, we would still have salt water intru-
sion problem and I presume that that is caused by Boca, West Boca and
what have you. Is there a Florida Statute that allows either us as a
Town to seek some compensation from the impact Boca's having, or is
there some legislative mandate that allows your District to become in-
volved during the permitting period in suggesting to Boca that they may
have contributed significantly to the cause of our problem and thus they
should contribute significantly to the resolution of that problem". Mr.
Lamb's reply "Again, that's very complicated and in the process that we
go through to make those evaluations, as we review permits, if there are
impacts by one permitee on another, then that permitee can't make that
additional withdrawal to cause those impacts". Commissioner Chambers
asked "Would you say that Boca is impacting our wellfield?" Mr. Lamb's
response "I don't know that. today. We could look into that but the pro-
cess evaluates whether there will be an additional impact on that just
as similar to the way Highland Beach is evaluated whether additional
+ withdrawals would cause additional intrusions. That process is in place
to do that. I don't direct, as a lot of utilities are drawing the water
down, as Pat had indicated, there's a regional lowering perhaps that
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 13 of 33
would have an impact. The Lake Worth Drainage District acts to buffer a
lot of that by supplying recharge to replace that water. The actions
within the C-15 canal act to do that. The Boca system has steadily
moved west abandoning their eastern wellfield because of salt water
intrusion further south. So, that's an action that we've taken with
Boca a lot as well as reducing their per capita consumption through the
permitting program that they've implemented. So, we've taken action
where necessary to meet our criteria. I'm not aware today that their
withdrawals are impacting Highland Beach that the draw down, we can look
into that, I don't know the answer to that". Commissioner Chambers then
asked Mr. Winters of L.W.D.D. "Basically, you're recharging our aquifer
area which is about a mile from C-15 (our water wellfield). I think it
is about a mile. You're going to continue recharging that aquifer
through the use of the various canal systems such as C-15 and you're
committed to doing that, correct?" Mr. Winters said "That's correct."
Commissioner Stewart asked "Mr. Mayor, could I go back to where I was
before you let this thing go again--could I go back to say Mr. Lamb or
Mr. Winters, and I'm not trying to say either one of them; but, I was
• trying to get them to say if they had something before we all keep get-
ting back to these questions. And, I'd like to know if either one of
those two gentlemen have anything they'd like to allow before we go back
to the questions. If they don't, then we can continue on; but, if
either one of you do have something to say, I'd like to give you the
opportunity to say it."
Mr. Winters of L.W.D.D. noted "Commissioner Waldman made a statement
about the amount of water that's available. With 60" of rainfall a
year, I personally feel that there's a tremendous amount of water here
in Florida (South Florida, Palm Beach County) for everyone. It is water
management--proper water management--that's needed. And, when L.W.D.D.
is forced to open control gates because of the high levels and not
adequate storage area during a storm that exceeds 2" of rainfall and we
discharge millions of gallons of water to the ocean, that's not proper
water management. Things that are needed are reservoirs to put that
water in an area so that it can be reused. And this is something that
L.W.D.D. is in an effort to have done. We're talking with S.F.W.M.D.
now and looking at reservoir areas. And, these are things needed--it's
proper water management. There's plenty of water out there; it's to
manage it properly." Commissioner Stewart asked "May I then ask a ques-
tion now, they're finished?" Mayor Boulay responded "Yes, you may."
Commissioner Stewart stated "I'd like to pursue your thought there a
minute because one of the things that bothered me tremendously during
this drought has been news and pictures on the television showing the
water pouring out of the canals down in Miami and everybody all along
the line saying 'Gee, we have no water'. I'm equally bothered by that
and I want to know what we as a Town, say, could do to assist in getting
some of this water kept and pumped back into the system because that was
4
• Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 14 of 33
the thing that was pointed out on the television show out of Miami that
the people were being interviewed and that's what they said 'Why are we
letting the canals out' so what can we do as a Commission?" Mr. Winters
response was "I think you need to address the issue with S.F.W.M.D. I
personally brought it up to the executive director of S.F.W.M.D. within
the last four months, when we were requested to stop our pumpages and
they had to open their structures to the Intracoastal Waterway. What we
did was we agreed that if there was an excessive rain, that they would
have to open, they would noti~'y my people. We would turn on our Eastern
pumps and take that water back into our system where we could reuse it.
We had the storage ability at that time since our system was down.
These are things that the Towns need to get together and discuss with
S.F.W.M.D. These are things that, I feel, a regional board would
assist, it would give directives to the special taxing districts, to the
drainage districts in Palm Beach County. The drainage districts are the
recharge areas." Commissioner Stewart thanked Mr. Winters and said "My
other questions are related to other areas. Back, some time ago, when
we first talked about Texas Trail, and this is just to clarify some-
thing, but in a letter that I looked at from 1989, this was still con-
. sidered as part of the City of Boca Raton's Nursery. Isn't there land,
wasn't that one of the drawbacks of it--or the consideration--was the
fact that, in that particular case too, it was controlled as a site?"
Dr. Wetzel responded "That was our understanding but we never went
beyond that and looked into it." Commissioner Stewart added "Because I
think people in Town may not know where it is or what it is and I was
just--that gives us an opportunity to clear up that point." Continuing,
Dr. Wetzel said "The Texas Trail is located immediately East of I-95,
pretty much due West of your existing treatment plant." Commissioner
Stewart noted "And, that would require then something under I-95." Dr.
Wetzel stated "No, the wellfield is due East of I-95. That was the dis-
advantage of Pheasant Walk because you have to cross under I-95 and it
also would have been a major disadvantage of an interconnect with Palm
Beach County because you'd have to run some pretty expensive pipelines."
Commissioner Stewart continued "In your report recently you mentioned
that neither of the sites has adequate size to locate more than two
floridan aquifer supply wells; neither the one here at Town Hall or the
one in Boca. How would you supply the other two? Or, where would we
put the other two?" Clay Blanton of J. M. Montgomery replied "I believe
there were a total of five floridan aquifer wells for a complete 2.2
million gallons a day. Two of the wells were to be located on the site,
and the other wells, in the case of the mainland site were to be located
along the easement leading to the existing western wellfield." Commis-
sioner Stewart asked "This would be at Boca's easement?" Mr. Blanton's
response was The existing easement that you have for the raw water main
that comes from the existing wellfield." Commissioner Stewart stated
• "But that's in Boca, that's Boca property." Mr. Blanton replied "Yes."
Commissioner Stewart said "I just want to clarify where it is; it's
underneath their streets--their right of way." Mr. Blanton said "That's
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 15 of 33
correct. Now, on the island site, the wells would have to be located in
a North/South orientation pretty much along AlA to avoid bringing pipe-
line across marshy land. So, in that case it would have to be located
just in back of the coastal ridge there." Commissioner Stewart noted
"You speak about drilling a well, a test well, would this well also,
would it be, was it, in its proposal, is it adaptable as a pumping
well?" Clay Blanton replied "Yes, it is." Commissioner Stewart asked
"Have you done this before?" "Mr. Blanton responded "Yes, as a matter
of fact, I was involved with the Jupiter test well which is a 12" well
going to a floridan aquifer. And, in that case, we originally started
with a test well and eventually that's going to wind up as a supply
well for their reverse osmosis plant." Commissioner Stewart inquired
"And are you aware then also, if you did the Jupiter one, you are well
aware then that that well produced considerable cost over-runs. They
bid that out at 200% and it came in at 400%. And not only that, but,
when they drill one of those wells, they have to drill two eventually
because you can't just have one well. You have to have two because, at
a period down the road, you have to take that well down to do certain
testing and you just can't be running on a one well system. So, I
think, that that Jupiter well, which many people may not know about but
is something that needs to be investigated by this Commission, was a
very expensive well for that City and produced a lot of difficulty also
after they got the testing out of that well and they closed the thing
down thinking that they had all the testing and all the approvals. They
had to re-open the well because in fact some of the testing had to be
redone. I hope we would not be into that problem but that does concern
me because of the dollar bills that were spent by a City of 46,000--not
by a City of 4,000 or 6,000. And, that, I would say, concerns me." Mr.
Blanton said "I would like to, if I may, just give a little more inform-
ation on that particular well. That was an interesting well in the fact
that the first construction was done with some PVC in an attempt to hold
the costs down. In fact, they changed their casing when they went to a
permanent well to some stainless steel, I think you might be aware. It
is a well that they are going to use; I think it's one of the, they found
out a lot of things using that well. And, two of our folks that were
involved early on in that effort I'm familiar with, and, of course, we
learned a lot of things from that well." Commissioner Stewart commented
"I'm sure. Everybody would be very interested in much of that. I'd
like to go on to something else. From time to time, there's been talk
around Town could we not go to another aquifer. Is there another one
available? Any other level available to draw on for water?" This is
something that people misunderstand but I would like you to explain it
to them, maybe." Mr. Gleason of J. M. Montgomery said "Yes, I think,
well, currently, the existing wellfield draws water from a surficial
aquifer and then, if we were to go to r/o we would be talking about
pulling water out of the floridan aquifer. You can go deeper than the
floridan aquifer, you go into deeper levels of the floridan aquifer,
you'll encounter probably higher and higher salinities the deeper you go
which adds to the cost of the treatment. Eventually, you go down about
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 16 of 33
3,000', you'll be into the boulder zone which is salt water and its also
an injection zone where a lot of wastes are injected. In terms of cost
effectiveness for aquifers and for exploiting an aquifer, other than the
surficial aquifer, the floridan aquifer, the upper part of the floridan
aquifer is the aquifer to use. And, if you start going below that, the
costs start going up." Commissioner Stewart stated "I took some engine-
ering figures (dollar bills); it's dollar bills that would really bother
me the most about - they have bothered everybody. Actually, r/o is not
the choice of anybody, unfortunately, because it is so expensive. You
only do that when you don't have any, any other choice. But, I did do,
I took Ocean Pines (Idon't know if anybody's here from Ocean Pines) but
I took their water bills and they run, I believe 708,000 gallons over a
two month period on their water thing. This past month, this past
period in April, they only ran 621. At sixty-five cents a gallon, that
is roughly $878.00 for them. However, an engineering firm of note did
do some r/o study work for some place and their work was done in 1986
presentation; at that time, it was $2.15 per gallon was the replacement
plant capacity per gallon charge (this is a mid figure, by the way,
between the two extremes that were given) and seventy-nine cents operat-
• ing costs per gallon which brought it to $2.94 a gallon on this 1986
study. And, I hope to goodness, we have lowered the cost since then be-
cause, if you take that $2.94 and you put it against the 621 figure that
Ocean Pines paid, instead of paying $878.00, they would have paid
$1,825.00." Dr. Wetzel said "Excuse me, I'm not clear on the costs -
typically, you talk about dollars per gallon and normally." Commission-
er Stewart noted "this was replacement plans." Dr. Wetzel continued
"Construction costs would normally be in; that's correct, a dollar per
gallon, two dollars per gallon, something like that. Operating costs
normally would be on a per thousand gallon basis, the seventy-nine
cents." Commissioner Stewart added "per thousand gallons, yes, this is
and I'm figuring it on per thousand gallons. I'm sorry, yes. Because
when I multiply it out, that's exactly what I had done. And, that's
what I'm saying now - the cost becomes extremely high." Dr. Wetzel
stated "Well, we've looked at the cost and what this water, if you were
to go to phase I for example, what it might cost. And, our best guess,
and it does depend whether you do a G/O Bond Issue or Revenue Bond
Issue, as to where the costs are shown--where the costs show up. Clay,
in fact, did an analysis to show that if your current G/0 Bonds had been
Revenue Bonds, you would be paying today about a dollar per thousand
gallons for water. You actually pay seventy-five cents or something
like that. But, had the Bond Issue been a Revenue Bond Issue it would
be more like a dollar per thousand gallons. This plant would convert
that--would basically double that. Your rates would double to around
two dollars per thousand gallons. If you were to put the first Phase of
• an r/o plant in place." Commissioner Stewart commented "Oh! that's only
the first phase--you're saying on a blended water basis." Dr. Wetzel
responded "That's correct. So, I think there's no question that r/o
water is more expensive. I might also add that all water is going to be
more expensive; the new regulations are going to require everybody to
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
• July 17, 1990
Page 17 of 33
make substantial improvements to their existing facilities or to re-
place their existing facilities. One of the great unknowns in the Boca
Raton issue, as you know, is, while they have an existing rate structure
today, that rate structure is going to change. They haven't really
begun to address future drinking water regulations at that facility;
and, there's going to be some expensive modifications made to that plant
which, ultimately, will be reflected in the rates that people pay in
Boca Raton." Commissioner Stewart commented "But, I would say that
something; has anybody in any city, including Boynton and everyplace
else, nobody has gone to r/o unless its been an absolute problem solver
because of the high expense. It is the most expensive, is it now?" Dr.
Wetzel's response "Well, there's two kinds of r/o, of course. We're
talking about reverse osmosis from the floridan aquifer which is an
expensive option. There's another, there's a middle ground, and that is
the membrane softening process which is what Palm Beach County is going
to in the Delray Beach area at their system 3 plant, currently under
design, will be ultimately a 28 mgd reverse osmosis plant--a membrane
softening plant. And, that would be a less expensive alternative both
in terms of capital costs and operating costs. The problem with
Highland Beach and why that was not investigated here is because of the
concern of the salt water front. That is a type of plant that is fed
from a surficial aquifer system that can handle higher chlorides than
the 250 that you're limited to in your existing facility; but, still can
handle the kind of chloride level that you would encounter at the time
that the salt water wave moves past your wellfield. So, it really is
not a very viable alternative for Highland Beach; the floridan seemed to
be the better r/o alternative."
Town Manager Mariano stated "I am a little concerned; you know we talked
about capital cost that I'm a little concerned; like you say r/o is the
most expensive finished water costs to the residents. Once the plant is
in operation on whatever we do, I'm a little concerned with what the
cost of the final product will be. If we were to put in an I Q system
and either operate or continue to operate the plant we have which would
need modifications to come under the drinking water standards, the cost
of putting in the system versus the operational costs of our existing
plant due to reduced pumpages out of that plant, the operational costs,
I would imagine, would have to go up to keep the plant going, how would
that compare, I mean, anyway we go, we are facing, I believe, a sub-
stantial water increase regardless of what system we choose to go with."
Dr. Wetzel's response was "Well, certainly we don't have the answers to
what the real numbers are. The advantage of the reclaim system irrigat-
ing the island is that the costs tend to be lower than the costs of pro-
ducing the potable water. But, until you actually go through the calcu-
lations of what it's going to cost both in terms of its capital expendi-
ture in putting a separate system down on AlA and then the operating
expense of pumping that water to the island, that has to be considered
and compared against what the potable water costs would be. And, I
don't think, at this point, we have any idea. We can look at some of
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 18 of 33
the other systems like EnCon, which has reclaimed water available and
they make it available for, I think the new number is now about thirty
cents a thousand gallons, that's for reclaimed water." Commissioner
Chambers noted "Twenty one, I was up there yesterday." Dr. Wetzel
continued "But, I understand that they're suggesting a new rate increase
for new customers so, it's in the twenty-five to thirty cents per thou-
sand gallon range; and, I believe, that's a delivered cost. So, that's
--but, as to whether or not you could actually do that for that cost in
Highland Beach, we'd have to investigate that." The Town Manager asked
"But, does that cost include the recouping of whatever Bond Issue we
need to put this system in?" Dr. Wetzel replied "Yes." Town Manager
Mariano questioned "Or, would that be added to it? And, the question
was that coupled with the operational costs of our potable water system
put together." Dr. Wetzel said "As I say, you'd have to do the analysis
to see what is the most cost effective alternative." The Town Manager
said "Okay, because I think that's going to be an important question to
be answered to the residents as to what we do. My final question really
is that in your recommendation in the r/o study, you suggested that we
compare the costs of r/o expansion with the costs of other options
considering the practicality of implementing them. And, after listening
to all this discussion today, barring the option of an interconnect with
• another municipality, which I still see as a viable option, barring
those options, do you see any other options (and this could be addressed
to you or Steve or anybody who wants to answer) do you see any other
options as having a long term solution into the Town's salt water
intrusion problems, because even if we get the irrigation quality water
and our lawns are green, we still want, I think the Commission needs to
look at what the quality of the drinking water to the populace of the
Town is. And, I just want to know what other options are available,
barring going to Boca or Delray or the County or down to the floridan.
Do you see anything else?" Dr. Wetzel replied "Other than moving your
wellfield west; that's still an option." Town Manager Mariano continued
"I'm a little concerned because one of the things I hadn't heard brought
up at a meeting before is now apparently, rather than the salt water
just moving eastward, if I understood correctly, we have salt water
moving westward. And, sometime, over the life of, maybe not our life-
time but sometime, those are going to meet, unless there's a lot of pre-
paration." Commissioner Stewart said "I think that's where we need to
decide what you mean, and everybody means, by long-term. So you mean
something in 2050 or do you mean something in the year 2000 because that
makes a lot of difference." Dr. Wetzel said "Of course our Geologist",
at this point, Commissioner Stewart continued "Most of us are not
Chinese and look at things in that format." Vice Mayor Paul noted "I
take the word long-range or long-term as basically permanent."
Mr. Gleason of J. M. Montgomery noted "As Bill has pointed out, there is
salt water; there's old salt water out to the west and, I think, in time
that salt water will move farther to the east. And, it looks like in
areas of the County there are very high chlorides, very high salinities
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 19 of 33
out towards the west. I think, short range, I think that the problem is
more the salt water interface right at the Intracoastal and at the east,
to the east, short range. I think that's what has to be the real and
immediate concern. I think the concern about salt water from the west
moving in is a much longer range thing and, of course, there's a lot of
other wellfields farther out west which will see this before you with
your wellfield location we're not going to see .." Commissioner Stewart
said "We're liable to have a hurricane first." Mr. Gleason said "Yes,
there's lots of earthquakes."
Vice Mayor Paul suggested "Let's approach long-term this way. Ray
McCallister at F.A.U. told a gentleman living in one of the beachfront
highrises in Boca that he was pretty safe but he wouldn't promise his
grandchildren anything." Commissioner Stewart questioned "From what?"
The Vice Mayor responded "As far as the building." "Commissioner
Stewart commented "The definition of long-term."
Mayor Boulay stated "We do not have to make a firm decision here today
but we have to see where we are. If some of these options that we have
(I looked at about eight of them); in Venice, Florida, they have similar
problems and they claim that it can be done for sixty to one dollar and
twenty-five cents for a thousand gallons a day through a reverse osmosis
• plant they're putting in right now. I hear tell of foridan wells and
deep wells in the City of Hollywood and Fort Pierce and blended that in
with their land-swapping plan; I hear C-15 (the pros and cons); I hear
Palm Beach County interconnect; I hear regionalization; r/o and we have
active communication with Boca. But, nobody has told me yet today that
one is better than the other. That's what I'd like to hear; I think we
all would like to hear. We're at a point where we can not sit on it.
We just have to start eliminating the possibilities and start working on
some of the more viable type of system, whatever we're going to use we
have to get started on. I think what has to be considered is not only
that we have the wellfield, whether or not that wellfield will support
more wells or whether we have to go purchase land further west, if in
fact it can be purchased. We have our own treatment plant that can be
converted; C-15, according to the gentleman from Lake Worth District,
has plenty of water. There has been no study, and I don't know if the
question was answered whether or not anybody is using C-15 surface
water for their primary source of water supply. How are they drawing
from C-15?" Mr. Winters of L.W.D.D. replied "They are drawing through
the aquifer itself." The Mayor questioned "Is that for I Q water or is
that for.." Mr. Winters noted "Just rechargeable.." The Mayor noted
"All kinds of possibilities but we've got to start eliminating. Does
anybody have any ideas along that line?" Commissioner Chambers comment-
ed "I think that what S.F.W.M.D. did in approving our application for a
one year extension is very good; it allows us the extra time to look at
some of the alternatives. And, I'm very happy that you did that. Thank
you."
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 20 of 33
Commissioner Waldman said "I'd like to make a suggestion, if I may. We
have taken up a lot of these gentlemen's time, I suggest we have a 15
minute recess and thank these gentlemen and everyone for coming and lets
reconvene and make up our minds about where we're going. I think that's
something that we have to decide ourselves, unless you have any other
questions that you want to ask." Mayor Boulay stated "The question I
have is what I just asked 'Can any of these be eliminated' this
morning." Commissioner Waldman repeated "I suggest we all have a 15
minute recess and reconvene and come back in and make a decision." The
Vice Mayor noted "I thought the reason the gentlemen were here today was
to help us with their expertise in the various plans that may come up."
Commissioner Chambers said "I think that James Montgomery has
demonstrated an adequate knowledge and has done a wonderful job in
presenting the options and r/o; and, I think that the other gentlemen
were wonderful resources for us. I think, as a Commission, we now have
to look at the direction we're going to go in. Certainly, it's going to
involve the utilization of James Montgomery's talents; I'm sure there's
going to be a good bit of communication with you sir, and, we're going
to look at alternatives. I think that's really what we're here for is
to decide which alternatives we're going to look at and I would suppose
other alternatives would probably make themselves as obvious to us as
the months go by. It might be regionalization, it might be what EnCon's
doing at Tequesta/Jupiter, I'm not sure. But, I, for my information, I
think we need to make some decisions here. And, I thank you very much
for coming." Mayor Boulay asked "How are we going to make informed
decisions as amateurs when we have the experts here to guide us and.."
Commissioner Chambers said "All right, these gentlement haven't
researched the other alternatives yet." The Mayor continued "At least
they know a little bit more about them then certainly I do and.." At
this point, Commissioner Waldman stated "If you don't want that, then Z
would take this opportunity to make a MOTION that we shelve the plan for
the r/o for one year from today and investigate all the other alterna-
tive methods within that period of time and come up with something that
would be feasible to the South Florida Water Management District and.."
Mayor Boulay said "I don't think that would address the terms of our
agreement for the permitting that was just--allows us--would be allowed
us under the terms of their agreement. I don't think that would address
that at all if we shelve an alternative." Commissioner Waldman stated
"We know that." Commissioner Chambers said "If we have all the informa-
tion on that alternative,I would think that would be consistent with Mr.
Lamb's understanding of the extension period giving us a year in which
to do this work." The Mayor continued "We also have appointed the Water
Resources Advisory Board with some very capable people on it who have
researched all these alternatives, too." Commissioner Waldman commented
"I realize that and I think we're indebted to Mr. Chambers for the work
that he's done in coming up with the C-15 canal alternative, which no
one else has done. But, I think there are quite a few alternatives, we
know all about the r/o, I think we really had to know what it costs, but
I think we have to come up with an alternative and I think this way we
can devote all of our efforts to finding an alternative if we just for-
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 21 of 33
get about the r/o for a year." Mayor Boulay said "The C-15 canal, it
was just brought out that that can't be used as our water supply.."
Commissioner Chambers noted "He didn't say that--not drinking supply,
no. Wait, wait--let's stay with the r/o. Mr. Lamb, question--Commis-
sioner Waldman's proposal 'we now put r/o into the background until the
year 91, which would exceed your extension a little--no, it'd come in
because you've got to get it approved in the next month or so. What
we'd like to do is look at alternatives and a lot of them have been
talked about; some of them haven't been talked about, like the intention
of banking the water, and things like that. They're all other areas
that we need to be looking at. If we pass that resolution, which sug-
gests that we've done, I mean, Montgomery's done a wonderful job
researching r/o (they're experts and they know what they're doing). We
all, I think everyone up here has read their report. And, I think we're
quite comfortable with its quality and its numbers. make good sense, if
you want to spend that kind of money. But, are you at all uncomfortable
with us now looking at the other options?" Mr. Lamb stated "Our
response to the request from the Town was that they spend a year making
a decision - the first 4 or 5 months would be evaluating all the
options. I would not recommend that you throw out any of the options
until you make a comparison of each of them in the benefits and the
• costs associated with all of them as you come up with that decision.
R/0 is certainly one of them or some variation of them. I don't think
you necessarily would want to hold your hand, you know, take a look at
all the options which is what our permit would be. And, which option
comes out based upon the considerations of the Town, economics being one
of them, I, we would then evaluate that or work with your consultants as
they would evaluate them as to permitability of that." Commissioner
Chambers stated "Well then I'm quite comfortable with Commissioner
Waldman's MOTION, and I SECOND it."
Mayor Boulay stated "Unless I heard something different from Mr. Lamb,."
Commissioner Chambers added "We're not discarding anything, we're just
considering alternatives during the year. We have r/o--we already have
that research done. We don't need to do any more research in r/o, do
we? Gentlemen from Montgomery, is there more research that we need to
be doing to find out more about reverse osmosis process? I'm comfort-
able; they've done a good job." The Mayor said "What's the sense in
kicking it out?" Commissioner Chambers replied "We're not kicking it
out." Commissioner Waldman stated "We're not kicking it out, we're just
shelving it while we devote our time. I think you misunderstood." The
Mayor's response was "First of all, we have been shelving things for too
long. We need some sort of action done and, we've got a problem here
that needs to be addressed and we're trying to address it. Now, discus-
sing all these options is fine and that's why we have this four months
timetable on our agreement with South Florida Water Management. We
discussed them and included r/o, but, I asked before if any of them
could be thrown out; if there's certain things that could be thrown out.
There was no response so why can't we discuss all of them, ourselves do
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 22 of 33
research. Again, we have a Water Resources Advisory Board made up of
dedicated people who are doing a job. I mean, we've got to let them do
it. They know what they're doing." Commissioner Waldman noted "We
realize that. I think that this board should look at all alternatives
and not.." The Mayor stated "Exactly what we said and that's what we
intend to do--but, why shelve something for a year ..." Commissioner
Waldman noted "Beacuse all I've heard since you all started this is r/o
this, without giving the thought to what kind of a tax burden you are
going to place on the people of this Town." Commissioner Stewart MOVED
for a 15 minute recess at 10:35 A.M. All were in favor of the MOVE.
Mayor Boulay reconvened the Special Meeting of the Town Commission of
the Town of Highland Beach, Florida, at 10:55 A.M. noting that when the
Board recessed, there was a MOTION on the floor which was SECONDED.
Commissioner Waldman advised "I would like to withdraw that MOTION and
reword it, if possible, and that we explore all avenues and we will not
shelve the plans for a year of the r/o in existance; explore all avenues
for alternative water resources available to this Town with special
emphasis placed on those beside r/o." Mayor Boulay stated "I hear there
is a MOTION on the floor, a substitute MOTION, do I hear a SECOND?"
Commissioner Chambers SECONDED the MOTION. The MOTION was repeated as
follows: "THAT WE EXPLORE ALL AVENUES AND NOT SHELVE THE R/0 FOR ONE
YEAR WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS PLACED ON THE ALTERNATIVES OTHER THAN R/O."
Commissioner Chambers noted that he SECONDED the MOTION." Mayor Boulay
questioned "Any discussion an the MOTION?" Vice Mayor Paul asked "By
we, does that mean that we are returning this to Water Resources Board
for further study and recommendations to us?" Commissioner Waldman re-
plied "I would say that to anybody on the Commission and the Water
Resources Board can come up with an alternative that would be viable,
that would be advantageous to the Town. And, I would like the Water
Resources Board to continue in their efforts." Vice. Mayor Paul noted
"Then all suggestions for alternatives should be funneled to the Water
Resources Board for their investigation to be returned to us with their
recommendations?" Commissioner Stewart said "No, I wouldn't buy that.
Sorry. I won't buy that." Vice Mayor Paul continued "In other words we
are going to have two groups working at cross purposes." Commissioner
Stewart said "Well, may I answer something because I brought the resolu-
tion here and I wasn't going to bring it up unless it came to light.
But, first of all, the resolution creating the Water Resources Advisory
Board to me .does have a limiting factor in #6 which says that Board
shall review and explore those alternatives as contained in the long-
term water report submitted by Camp, Dresser & McKee dated 1987, includ-
ing potential costs. I personally have been very critical and I'll say
that here and now of the fact t'nat other ideas never came up and were
never discussed. And, I apologize, to Art Keller and to the Board,
because this has been to me a very frustrating thing. I think this
resolution is going to have to be readdressed by the Town Commission in
order to expand the #6 item, if we want to look at other alternatives."
Mayor Boulay responded "Let me just say this, at this time. The
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 23 of 33
engineers are here from J. M. Montgomery. They were invited along with
the other principals here to answer questions and present a chronology
of what has been going on. Now, they have talked about reverse osmosis.
Let's not forget, this Commission contracted with them to do a study of
reverse osmosis last year. It wasn't a case of them getting into every-
thing else. Camp, Dresser & McKee, on the previous study, had gone into
quite a few other things. They were to pick out reverse osmosis and a
couple of other things.. I don't think that that was brought up about
reverse osmosis. They did it because this is what they were directed to
do. So, to save the embarassment for the engineers, they weren't com-
missioned to study these other alternatives. We have agreed with South
Florida Water Management District that we will study this for four
months period and look down a timetable to be set out in a letter. And,
I think this is entirely proper. But, I don't think it's entirely
proper to eliminate one of them from the discussion." Commissioner
Stewart said "But, I do think that we have to readdress this resolution
to expand it. It is #6." Mayor Boulay read #6 "Such Board shall review
and explore those alternatives as contained in the long-term water
report submitted by Camp, Dresser & McKee, dated June, 1987, including
potential costs." Commissioner Stewart stated "And I'm saying if we are
going to look at other ideas, which were not contained in that report,
then we have to address the resolution so that we can, if you want to
have a Water Resources Board do things, you need to be able to have it
do it consistent with your resolution." Vice Mayor Paul questioned
"Could that be done by amendment of just that one clause by inserting
another phrase in there 'or such other alternatives as may surface',
or. Commissioner Stewart said "I think it can be addressed." Mayor
Boulay added "I think it almost says it in there but that's.."
Commissioner Stewart commented "I think right now that needs to be
cleared up that #6 because the thirteen alternatives do not include any
of the new ones. Actually, they never included any,of the possibilities
even of blending really, which is also a possibility. Most of what's
coming up now is kind of, you could read it in, but I don't think it's
there specifically and I don't think that gives you the kind of latitude
you need to have to do these things." Mayor Boulay noted "We already
have a MOTION, a substitute MOTION on the Board, on the floor." Commis-
sioner Waldman stated "I'll accept that as an amendment." Commissioner
Stewart said "No, that's not an amendment, no, no, no. I was just
addressing Commissioner Paul's thing." Mayor Boulay advised "I would
entertain, certainly, after we do away with the first MOTION, an amend-
ment to that #6 to include any other possibility. That would make sense
to me." Commissioner Waldman added "Well, we have that MOTION; we could
vote on it, if you like." Mayor Boulay asked "Any more discussion on
that MOTION, Commissioner Waldman's? Would you give us a roll call,
please?" The Town Clerk called the roll vote which resulted as follows:
Commissioner Chambers - Aye; Commissioner Stewart - Aye; Commissioner
Waldman - Aye; Vice Mayor Paul - Nay; Mayor Boulay - Aye.
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 24 of 33
Town Manager Mariano commented "Before we get to the Resolution, based
on that MOTION, is there a directive from the Town Commission that I
should get a scope of services drawn by our engineers on what the cost
would be for them to look at the other options that have been brought
out here today or how are we going to proceed with this?" The Mayor
noted "The MOTION, if I remember correctly, was that we discuss all the
alternatives.." Commissioner Waldman noted "Explore." Mayor Boulay
continued "Explore. Now, depending upon your intent when you made the
MOTION, was the intent that we discuss this MOTION in open session
amongst the Town Commission or is it to be.." Commissioner Waldman
answered "I hadn't thought.." Mayor Boulay continued "explored as to
the cost and what have you, by experts." Commissioner Waldman advised
"I think that something like that has to be done; I think that we
probably will need some experts but I think we have to give them some
directive also. In other words, they can come to us - there aren't that
many alternatives that we don't know what they are, by now. Unless they
come up with a hidden one. But, I think that if there is any particular
one or two that we want explored again, we can direct the engineers to
see what the cost would be in doing that, and if it's plausible. I think
we.." The Mayor noted "But, are we going to depend on newspaper
articles and individuals' feelings as to.." "Commissioner Waldman
• responded "No, I think the Commission can decide that."
Commissioner Chambers commented "Yesterday morning I visited EnCon which
is the largest I Q water management in the State, I believe. Very
successful; very impressive. And, I would like very much to invite
their executive director, Rick Dent, down to give us a slide show and
presentation about what they've achieved; some of the reasons why they
set forth to achieve it - it's very impressive. It was very educational
for me and I think it would be a great benefit for the Commission and
probably the Town. I believe James Montgomery is quite familiar with
EnCon. So, you understand what they're doing--it's really impressive
stuff. Now, we can ask the Water Resources Board for--I'd like very
much to have some of these options in their additional phases brought
before the Commission, possibly at the next Workshop Meeting or a
Special Commission Meeting in which we could look at them (the Water
Resources Advisory Board and the Commission). Let's have a look at the
options before we send the engineers out to hopefully bring us a yes or
a no. Let's talk to people who definitely are successfully using some
of these options, or who have discounted these options for one reason
or another." Mayor Boulay asked "Have you talked a lot about irrigation
quality water and that you're getting the Town.." Commissioner Chambers
responded "Yes we are, absolutely." Mayor Boulay questioned "Would they
be prepared to come up with cost estimate and what it would cost to re-
pipe this Town?" Commissioner Chambers answered "Not our Town. But,
they did do about 5 miles of highly urbanized community up there for a
total cost of about a million dollars. We only have about 3'1/2 miles."
. The Mayor noted "I'd be very interested in looking at that community -
how close to being built out is that community?" Commissioner Chambers
• Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 25 of 33
responded "Pretty close to the one they did--no, I'm just talking about
urbanization. They ran over 20 miles of pipes. But a lot of that was
But, the interesting thing is that they told me yesterday
we•only•have to be 5'--we have to locate our lines 5' from the potable
source which makes it much more channelable for this Town. And, we can
use PVC pipe. So, there are some very interesting developments that are
happening. St. Petersburg has been involved in this for years." The
Mayor noted "They use waste water, I'm very familiar with it, I've been
through their plant, and they did it not in built up areas; they did it
in new developments, which made sense." Commissioner Chambers asked
"St. Petersburg? (to which the Mayor answered "Yes") Gee, I lived there
and I lived in the oldest section of the Town--my house was built in
1933--I'm not going to get into any personal discussion." Commissioner
Stewart questioned "Would that be possible to see that show? Just to
get the ball rolling to at least address it. Could we do it sometime
during the week of the 13th or 20th of August or next Tuesday?" Commis-
sioner Chambers noted "Next Tuesday is out because he has other commit-
ments. I already tried. We're going to have a Special Meeting on the
24th to set the millage rate (that should be quite a meeting); would we
want to see it then? (It was noted that there would only be three
• members of the Commission present on that day.) The Town Manager noted
that we would have to coordinate some schedules because we have several
members coming in and out of Town. Commissioner Waldman asked "Which
day is that you're speaking of?" Commissioner Stewart replied "The 24th
of July." Commissioner Waldman stated "The 24th of July, I can make it.
Next week you mean. I'm leaving the 28th. I'll be here the rest of
this week and all of next week." (A discussion regarding the scheduling
of meetings followed and the consensus was to hold a Special Meeting on
July 24, 1990 at 1:30 P.M. for the purpose of setting a tentative
millage rate to submit to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser.)
Commissioner Chambers questioned "Would you like me to attempt to get
Rick Dent in here from Encon to do a presentation?" The Mayor responded
"Why don't we have the Town Manager get in touch with him and see if we
can invite him down at your request." Commissioner Chambers advised
"I'm going to be up there tomorrow anyway so I'll be glad to ask him."
Dr. Wetzel commented "The name of the organization is the Loxahatchee
River Environmental Control District. It's nickname is Encon. I think
you'll enjoy the show. Rick's very, is a real proponent and you'd find
it interesting. The one thing you have to bear in mind and certainly,
if you want to pursue reclaimed water as an option I think that's
viable, and we'd be happy--we can look at that quite easily for you.
The thing you need to bear in mind though is you will need to get a
source for reclaimed water. And, those two sources would either be Boca
or Boynton/Delray. Boynton/Delray has a problem today in that they have
high chlorides in their waste water which would not allow it today
unless they can correct their problem to be available for reclaimed
water. And Boca, we'd be facing some of the same issues we faced with
trying to get finished water from Boca and I believe you may need to
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 26 of 33
direct your Town Manager to at least begin to pursue that and see
whether Boca might be interested." Commissioner Chambers noted "I
thought we had an offer of free water of I Q water from Boca. Mr.
Keller, did we get an offer?" Mr. Keller answered "About a year and a
half ago, we, informally, had word from Boca's water utility manager, I
forget the man's name, and it came through our consultant, that we might
be able to get their waste water. But, we weren't interested." Commis-
sioner Chambers, directing his comments to Steve Lamb, said "Let me ask
you this. At our recent meetings, some of your people up there have
been pretty strong about mandating the use of reclaimed water that they
don't want it out in the ocean if you're going to work with utilities
and the waste treatment facilities in Boca and Delray and other
surrounding areas. If we put in an I Q system in this Town, I mean, are
you thoroughly certain that we are going to be able to find reclaimed
water? I've been thoroughly comfortable we would between C-15 and Boca
and Delray. Is there any reason to believe there is going to be a
shortage of I Q water?" Mr. Lamb responded "I don't think there is a
shortage of I Q water; the District has not mandated areas down here to
make it available and use it although we've asked them to all evaluate
it and look at the feasibility of use. Boca included in that and has
started to make it used on their own medium strips and also in test
• programs at F.A.U. So, there is waste water that is available and is
initially being used in Boca." Commissioner Chambers questioned "Is
that mandate coming shortly?" Mr. Lamb replied "We've required them now
to evaluate its use and use it wherever feasible. I don't, in the next
couple of months, we'll know the direction the District is going to man-
date in its use and areas, other than critical concern."
Mayor Boulay stated "It certainly baits the question of 'if it's free
water from Boca, how free is free'? They are not going to bring it to
us for free. We will have to hook up meters or whatever they have to do
that's also going to be at additional costs. Free can be not exactly
for nothing." Commissioner Stewart said "Maybe after the 24th, we'll
have an idea how possible it looks." Commissioner Chambers said "The
economies and the amount of money spent..." Commissioner Stewart conti-
nued "What questions to ask." Continued Commissioner Chambers "is a
major part of his presentation." The Mayor noted "Okay, we look forward
to that on the 24th. Back to the matter at hand, when we left, we
decided that we would continue discussing all the alternatives to our
long-term water supply. Is there any schedule other than Regular Town
Commission Workshops, Town Commission Meetings, that we want to set up
in order to discuss this?" Vice Mayor Paul asked "First, do we want to
get the change in the Resolution creating the Board such statement as
that such board review and explore all viable alternatives to our long-
term water supply?" The Mayor asked "That's the amendment to the reso-
lution?" The Vice Mayor responded "That's a suggestion. and it doesn't
restrict us to that 1987 report." The Mayor questioned "Do you want to
make the MOTION, we can handle that right now." The Vice Mayor stated
"Then I'll move that the subject Resolution of 9/27/88, paragraph 6, be
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 27 of 33
amended to read that such board review and explore all viable
alternatives to our long-term water supply." Commissioner Stewart then
SECONDED that MOTION. All Members were in favor of the MOTION. The
Mayor said "The Water Resources Advisory Board has another mandate; they
are still in business." Mr. Keller, Chairman of the W.R.A.B. said "We
will meet and discuss it; we may not be in business." Commissioner
Chambers asked Mr. Keller "Could you clarify that a bit?"
Mr. Kelley's response was "Sure, sure. I have repeatedly heard that we
should discuss all other alternatives. Now, I hope I don't antagonize
anybody but, Mr. Waldman, you came into the picture about a month ago.
And, from a month ago or two months ago, we've been discussing r/o. Had
you been interested in our activity, you would have found that way back
when Mayor Stewart, at that time, set us up, we had been going through
every one of the procedures outlined. Now, Mrs. Stewart knows this. We
went through the various wellfields, we contacted the County. The
County replied that 'yes, we can get water in twenty years'. We're not
that patient. Everyone of these alternatives were studied and run down.
And, what you're really asking us to do is review what we did. Now,
personally, I wish our consultants were more forthcoming. They are even-
handed. They do not wish to direct us in a particular direction. For
• example, the point is being made that r/o water is so expensive. If our
present water we use is brought up to the health and safety require-
ments that the E.P.A. will shortly mandate, it'll approach the cost of
r/o water. So, that negates the cost factor. Using water for irriga-
tion. We went through that and Mr. Chambers was at the meeting. We had
the two Earl Harvels (the father and son team) who have worked on AlA.
They have dug up the sides of AlA; they know what's down there. They
have told us that it is required that the potable water piping and the
irrigation water piping be 10' apart (not 5') 10' apart. Now, we have
an engineer who can verify that, if you want to have an authority, we
have somebody here right now. Now, we can not bring heavy equipment
in to dig a ditch that's perfectly verticle up and down. It has to
diverge; it's going to be shovel work. That ditch, on either side of
AlA, will be 15' wide at the mouth. You evacuate the earth from the
ditch and you wind up with a pile another 5'. You're going to wind up
with 20' of earth and ditch on either side of AlA. His estimate, by the
way, he itemized each step along the .way required to do this work and he
assigned a dollar amount to each step. We were all there. You didn't
object, I didn't object, nobody objected because we accepted the verity
of this statement. Commissioner Chambers said "No, no, you're wrong."
Mr. Keller said "Let me continue. Mr. Chambers, please. He came up
with a 4 million dollar cost that is excluding the costs of the piping
to get it from C-15 Canal here. Four million dollars is a lot more than
the 3-1/2 million required. Now, I wish our consultants would indicate
that the alternative of going for the first stage r/o and reducing the
loading on our western wellfield is probably the best way we can go and
the money will be 3-1/2 million. I wish they would make that comment.
But, apparently, their evenhandedness works in your favor because
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 28 of 33
then you can say 'everything is equal'; and, it's not. Now, what other
alternative--getting new wellfields. We looked into that. Any place we
go, we have litigation, time lapse, there are going to be suits. We
have the cost of the real estate of the wellfield, the real estate of
the piping, the real estate of the area that the piping has to be laid
into. And, let's assume we succeed, that's not going to get us out of
r/o. Anytime we tap into the surficial aquifer, we're going to have
salt water intrusion potential. So, that's no cure. The only technolo-
gy that can be used, that's available to us, is getting the salt out of
the water and that's r/o. Any other thing is an expedient. It's
clever, it's cute and it may help us for the next three, four, five
years. But, our charge, Mrs. Stewart, was to get a long-term solution.
Not something that's cute and will take us out of trouble for the next
several years."
Commissioner Waldman said "Mr. Keller, I didn't mean to demean your
knowledge. (Mr. Keller replied "I know you didn't.") I do remember you
saying here that you had never looked into the possibility of the C-15
Canal. So, is it possible that maybe you overlooked something else.
Now, how would you like to spend six to eight million dollars for r/o
plant and find out in two years that we have a regional water supply?"
Mr. Keller's response "The regional water supply.." Commissioner
Waldman continued "Just a moment. We can always try, and I say try, to
get the people here to vote for a six million dollar bond issue,
although I seriously doubt that that would ever pass in this Town." Mr.
Keller asked "How about 3-1/2 million?" Commissioner Waldman went on to
say "Then, if it comes up five million, what do you do about the other
one and a half million?" Mr. Keller asked "Why extrapolate? What if it
comes in only at three million?" Commissioner Waldman said "If these
people would get up and say that they will guarantee it not to cost any
more than 3-1/2 million; I haven't heard that yet." Mr. Keller said
"No, they can't say that." Commissioner Waldman continued "Maybe, you
can't go to the people after you get a bond issue voted for 3-1/2
million and say we need another million and a half. I don't think you
all have discussed that at all." Mr. Keller said "It's possible." Com-
missioner Waldman stated "I don't think the people are going to go for
that; not a Town of six thousand people. I may be wrong, but you better
be looking at alternatives now; and then, if you have to come back to
r/o in a year or two; well then you can always.." Mr. Keller stated
"Marvin, we don't want to come back to anything in a year or two because
that means by the time you get your water from your tap it will be 5 or
6. Now, this has been going on for a long, long time. Simply pushing
things into the future is no solution. I charge you people with coming
out with a solution. And, simply asking them which solution (our
experts) which solution do you think has the greatest merit? Let them
tell us rather than have you people; I have the greatest respect.."
Commissioner Waldman responded "We hope to do that the next year." Com-
missioner Chambers said "Mr. Keller, I want to ask you just one quick
question; your 3-1/2 million dollars supposes that we'll take out
• Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 29 of 33
750,000 gallons per day, we'll be blending that water, correct?" Mr.
Kelley's response was "Yes. No, no, blending the discharge. We won't
blend that, that would be potable water, the 750,000 gallons." Commis-
sioner Chambers asked "Where are we going to get the other 750?" Mr.
Keller said "No. That's it." Commissioner Chambers asked "Don't we
need a million and a half a day?" Mr. Keller stated "No; 750 potable
water from the r/o plant." Commissioner Chambers questioned "That's all
we need?" Mr. Keller responded "No. No, and get the rest from our
existing wellfield, which will be reduced a like amount, and hopefully,
the S.F.W.M.D. will permit us to operate in that mode indefinitely.
Now, if 5 years down the line, you decide you want to go for r/o, you
get another couple of wells. Ten years down the line, you want a
complete r/o, you get another couple of wells. But, you're well on the
way to having a system and the technology that removes the threat of
salt water intrusion. And, you're home free." Commissioner Chambers
asked "Well, do you think that by reducing the withdrawal on our well-
bield by 750,000 gallons a day we're going to do anything about salt
water intrusion?" Mr. Keller stated "This is for S.F.W.M.D. to tell us.
Now, they were willing to do it with your C-15 Canal, or any other
process." Mayor Boulay noted that our engineer might address that.
Dr. Wetzel stated "Just to reiterate the strategy of the phasing. The
concept is that by putting in 750,000 gallons of r/o water, you
basically create an insurance policy. There's no guarantee, frankly,
that the salt water front will ever move to the wellfield even if you do
nothing. You simply don't know. The projections are that it will.
But, by getting the permits in place, and by getting the first phase of
r/o in place, you've created an insurance policy against a couple of
things: 1. that the salt water front will indeed move to the wellfield
in which case that wellfield will have to be shut down and then you can
convert to a full r/o treatment facility 2. you have future drinking
water regulations and, right now, the numbers are still up in the air.
The advantage of the r/o system is that it's effective in removing
organic contaminents and organics are the thrust of the new drinking
water regulations so that if you already have blended r/o water with
your lime-softened water, that may indeed meet the future drinking water
regulations. If the regulations turn out to be more stringent, then you
may go to phase 2 on the r/o and back off on the lime-softening. So
again, it is part of the insurance policy. Another issue may be one of
restrictions. We're facing this issue, for example, in the Town of Palm
Beach who aren't very happy about restrictions. Their strategy is they
think if they can go to the floridan aquifer that that will give them
full relief from future restrictions. Probably not the case but it will
certainly give them a different kind, or a different set of restrictions
and that would also be true for the Town of Highland Beach. The
restrictions currently placed on the surficial aquifer system don't
apply today to the floridan system although down the road the Water
Management District may indeed put some restrictions on that aquifer.
So, we've really only looked at r/o and we think we've come up with the
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 30 of 33
best r/o strategy for the Town. Whether or not that is the full, if you
look at the total program, whether that's the best strategy or not, we
haven't looked at all those. I think everybody has their own personal
opinions but, nevertheless, we haven't really looked at the other
alternatives in combination or in lieu of this kind of a strategy."
Commissioner Stewart said "I thought that was the question that was
asked a half an hour ago, that you asked." The Mayor said "Well yes and
no.." Commissioner Stewart said "The alternatives." Mayor Boulay said
"The alternatives that we have, and I think that Mr. Keller had brought
that out that they have explored everything that came up, including not
only the late strategy of the C-15 Canal, that was discussed. It was
discussed with the.." Mr. Keller noted "Two weeks ago, Mayor." The
Mayor continued "Mr. Keller and one of his members went up and met with
Mr. Lamb and they had a discussion on the basis where they were talking
about engineers and engineers and people who were qualified to come up
with the proper answers and the proper questions. So, we're willing
again to look into everything." Commissioner Stewart stated "I have not
really looked at the C-15 and I know what you're talking about at some
of the meetings because I've heard about them. But, what I'm wondering
is do we need engineering studies and reports on the quality and aspects
of the C-15 if we were to consider either a well near it or drawing from
the surface water, the surficial water. And, I wasn't sure that we've
totally explored both of those." Mayor Boulay said "I think the
gentleman from Lake Worth said that the surface water is not good enough
quality for anything else but I Q water." Commissioner Stewart asked
"But, do we know the amounts that would be available in the sense for a
second system or if we were to go into a well under it if that is a
feasible idea on property adjacent to it?" The Mayor noted "I thought
we covered that with the fact that it is in the same line as our eastern
wellfield. And, we have the salt water wedge, that we all know about,
that is coming that way underneath C-15 just as fast as.." Commissioner
Stewart questioned "Where did we get that piece of information from?"
The Mayor stated "Well, logic would tell me that. Also, I think the
Water Resources Advisory Board (Mr. Voress) he was very excited about
the C-15 Canal." Commissioner Stewart noted "I'd like to know more
about that particular one - if there could be any wells put near the
C-15 within the right-of-way or on land adjacent to it. I don't, I have
not seen any report on that particular subject. I heard a lot about it
but I.." The Mayor continued "We have an aquifer.." Commissioner
Stewart noted "But we do have a flow above it and that's a different
kind of thing then you have when you talk about other land, dry land,
that you put a well into, that, and this water comes from Okeechobee so
it's .."
Mr. Keller stated "I'm sorry, I'm not at the table .... but, Okeechobee,
how reliable is that source and one of the answers appears in the tech-
nical bulletin 87.4 by the South Florida Water Management District on
their executive summary. It says 'that we can't rely on that source'.
~I'l1 read it now 'Further, quality and ecologically ... considerations
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 31 of 33
may preclude the surface storage water and Lake Okeechobee and the water
conservation areas from providing the additional quantities of water
needed in the near future.' Very prophetic because.." Commissioner
Stewart said "I don't think we're talking the same thing, Mr. Keller."
Mr. Keller responded "Well, you mentioned Lake Okeechobee."
Commissioner Stewart noted "I understand that. I don't think I'm
speaking of the same thing though that you are." Mr. Keller continued
"For example, what are we talking about?" Commissioner Stewart replied
"I don't think Lake Okeechobee is going to dry up on us. God forbid."
Mr. Keller said "No, no. However, this is something I read and I'm
reluctant to bring it up because I'm not familiar with the exact
details. About a month ago, the level of Lake Okeechobee was so low
that had it gone down another few inches, we would have been unable to
pump water out of it. Now, I don't know whether anybody here is
familiar with that situation. And, this says it." Commissioner Stewart
asked "Would anybody want to leave the room at this stage?"
Mr. Winters of Lake Worth Drainage District said "Let me comment for
you. The City of Boca did intensive study on the C-15 water with regard
to the availability, the quality of water and I would suggest you
contact them rather than spend a lot of money on this." The Mayor noted
that bit of information was appreciated. Commissioner Chambers asked
Mr. Winters "Do you recall the article on that?" Mr. Winters' response
was "I honestly don't." Mr. Lamb noted "They went to the Hillsboro
Canal for their water supply."
When the Mayor asked if there were any other questions from the Commis-
sion, the Vice Mayor stated "I might suggest that I think the purpose of
this meeting has pretty well been taken care of at this point and we've
amended the resolution for the Board; we've heard from the parties,
interested parties." Mayor Boulay asked "Any other comments?" Commis-
sioner Chambers stated "I, Mr. Keller on your, that meeting that I
attended where we talked about a four million dollar price; by attending
the meeting, I did not agree with the figure and I do not agree with the
figure." Mr. Keller said "Well, you didn't ...." Commissioner Chambers
continued "Well, I'm not an expert, it would be very hard for me ..."
Mr. Keller asked "Would you deny that those people are experts?" Com-
missioner Chambers said "The people who have put in that piping have
come up with much lower numbers and I'm very impressed with it. Never-
theless, I also wanted to make sure that the Vice Mayor understands that
this resolution we passed, I'm still going to pursue researching alter-
natives, meeting with people and talking to people and looking for
further information, as I think we all should do. That's it for me."
When Mayor Boulay asked if anyone else had any comments, anyone from the
public have comments at this time, (the Mayor noted that we have some
• experts here) Michael Dent, residing at the Casuarina, addressing the
Town Commission said "We have experts and we need correct answers.
While we do have the experts here, I think we've got to, what I don't
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 32 of 33
like at the moment is that everybody has a lot of ifs, ands and buts in
their recommendations. We have a bunch of numbers on osmosis and I
think they're good numbers. But, we've got to make a decision, at least
you people have to make a decision and Mr. Keller and his group. While
they're here, I don't think we are getting anywhere. We're having a lot
of people talk off the top of their heads this morning and I think we
might ask Mr. Lamb here from the S.F.W.M.D. and our engineers what we
should do over the next six months, or, in other words, Ed Wetzel here
says that we need a bunch of permits. Now, it takes you, nowadays,
two years to get permits. Now, he mentioned three; why don't we go
after them? One of the first things we ought to do is drill a well to
the floridan aquifer and then we'll know what the water is like in the
floridan aquifer here and so we'll have a lot of the answers which we
will have to supply to the various authorities who are going to grant us
these permits. But, that seems to be the number one thing we've got to
do, put a well down to the aquifer and see what's in it so that we can
go to the authorities, and that's not a very expensive thing to do,.."
The Mayor noted "I think that's one of the posibilities that will be
addressed when we address all the alternatives." Mr. Dent said "As far
as the alternatives are concerned, I don't think there will be many
alternatives that are effective, as this gentleman here says, this is an
. insurance policy getting 3/4 of a million dollar plant here. And, here
we're getting ideas off the top of the heads, I would suggest that we
start after the permits, we go in after permits, because it's going to
take a long time. And, don't let's spin our wheels over various--I mean
what are the alternatives--the alternatives about one other alternative.
Let's forget about this island site, I mean that's a waste of time."
The Mayor noted "Well, it's--I appreciate your opinion and I thank you
very much for your comments." Mr. Dent noted "Well, I would like some-
thing possitive from these gentlemen as to what is the best thing for us
to do right now. What can we do to ease the thing along, I think
osmosis is going to be the thing we want to do. But, what should we do
right now? Mr. Lamb, what would you suggest? We get a lot of ideas
thrown at us but we have no possitive suggestions. I made a positive
one, let's go out for some permits. And, what do we need to do, how do
we go about that. Don't let's sit here twiddling our thumbs and
talking. Thank you, Mayor."
Mr. Lamb's response was "I think the process that you have started today
is going to answer that. The letter to us, and modifying the permit
requested, a period of time to evaluate the options to come up with that
solution. I think you've got a number on reverse/osmosis. Perhaps,
I've not heard today a comparable number for the other options that
perhaps you'd want to investigate in the next several months and then
make that decision as to which one is the best economics and meets the
commitments of the Town. That's the program that we've looked at in
responding to the Town Manager's letter. I would encourage that the
Town continue on that path."
Town Commission Special Meeting Minutes
July 17, 1990
Page 33 of 33
At this point, COMMISSIONER WALDMAN/VICE MAYOR PAUL MOVED to adjourn the
Special Meeting of the Town Commission. Mayor Boulay adjourned same at
11:40 A.M.
APPROVED : ~~ ; k - ~ . ~~ ~-'«, _..~_ ~:,_,
J se A. Boulay Mayor
_~..-r c~~----C__~-
Bi 1 Paul, Vice ayor
,'
Marvin A. Waldman, Co ssioner
Betf~y- ,7e,~n,S~~i~~, Commissioner
C:~ Ch(amb~'rs, Commissioner
r ;
i
'South Florida Wate Manag District
P.O. Box 24680 • :a)l (gun Club I2uatl • West Palm Beach, Fl- 5,5416-4680 • A07 681i iJ81N1 • I:1. \V, \'I'S 1401 4a2.204,i
CON 24 -06
July 16, 1990
Ms. Mary Ann Mariano, Town Manager
Town of Highland Beach -
3614 S. Ocean Blvd.
Highland Beach, Fla. 33487
V�'\ to .
Dear Ms. ,Murray :
Subject: Application No. 890124 -9
Project: Town of Highland Beach
Permit No.: 50- 00346 -W
County: Palm Beach
The District is in receipt of your letter addressing our request
for additional information concerning the above referenced project.
After reviewing the response, staff has determined that the
application is complete. Staff will recommend to the District's
Governing Board that the Town of Highland Beach be reissued a Water
Use Permit for a period of one (1) year to continue to review and
select a long term water supply for the Town's public water supply
system. Currently, staff's recommendation will be presented to the
Governing Board on October 11, 1990. Please note that staff may
recommend modification of several of the Limiting Conditions of the
existing permit. The District will notify the Town of Highland
Beach of any proposed modifications to the existing Limiting
Conditions.
If you should have any questions, please contact this office.
Thank you for your continuing cooperation.
Sincerely,
. Rawl, P.G.
Supervising Professional
Water Use Division
Resource Control Department
/jg
cc: Mr. T. Clay Blanton, JMM Consulting Engineers, Inc.
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