RAINFALL AND THE WATER TABLE

Hi All,
The following data regarding our recent regional rainfall and it's effect on the Water Table may prove interesting.

Please see:

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=df6k797z_5cpm6zqk8&hl=en

Dave Israel

Water level ...biz

Hey, something is happening! The Recycled water intake meter shows that between 09.30 yesterday and this morning same time (02/25/2009), we have purchased 1,696,780 gallons of badly needed water.
Is it because the equipment is failing and dumping more than the daily contracted 750,000 gallons or someone at UCO finally had a look at the lakes and made a decision to purchase more water?

If it is the latter Thanks that someone at UCO and keep up the good work. Andre

Put,Put,Put, someone is spraying the algeas

That's the noise of a small boat moving along the banks of our looked alike lake.

Thanks to someone who cannot write or speak publicly, a spraying of the algeas is taking place now in the Wellington lagoons. What product are they using? Is it chemical or natural? Who is doing it? UCO or WPRF or the County? Why this solution instead of seeding more carps as suggested before on this blog?
Maybe we are too old or too ignorant to be worth of consideration by the power at UCO or WPRF. Thanks anayway for doing something to get rid of these algeas and..... in YOU... WE TRUST. Andre

WATER, LAKE LEVELS AND IRRIGATION A NEW PLAN

Reclaimed water, flows in; Irrigation water is pumped out; the missing nexus!

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The problem is simple enough. The plan was not properly researched and conceptualized from day one.

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It was never a viable plan to keep the lakes up to any particular “standard” level. The Water Company uses the term:
“recharge our lakes”, a very slippery term which does not necessarily mean to completely refill.

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The point being that the pipe that discharges the reclaimed effluent should have been bifurcated; meaning that one leg should have been connected to the pipe that takes water out of the lake for irrigation.

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The other should simply discharge effluent into the lake. No water should be taken out of the lake for irrigation.

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This arrangement would remove all restrictions on use of that component of the water used exclusively for irrigation; leg one, as that is the deal which the County makes to induce customers to agree to use reclaimed water for irrigation purposes.

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We should seriously investigate a redesign of the system along the lines suggested above and then renegotiate the Bulk Agreement to raise the limit to at least; 1,250,000 gallons per day.

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Please read the following from the Palm Beach County Government site referenced below:

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REF:

http://www.pbcgov.com/waterutilities/waterfacts/reclaimedwater.htm
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Palm Beach County is the leading supplier of reclaimed water in Southeast Florida. The Department reclaims approximately one-third of all the wastewater it cleans.

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The highly-treated wastewater effluent is treated, filtered and disinfected at the County's Southern Region Water Reclamation Facility on Hagen Ranch Road in suburban Boynton Beach.

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Reclaimed water must meet stringent state and federal standards, and it is safely used for irrigation throughout the country. In Florida there are more than 400 water recycling projects, making our state a national leader in the use of reclaimed water.

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The treatment process eliminates harmful substances, but leaves traces of nitrogen and phosphorous that act as fertilizers when reclaimed water is applied to lawns and landscapes.
Golf Course and Lawn Irrigation.

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Approximately nine million gallons per day of reclaimed water is distributed by Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department to local golf courses and residential lawns for irrigation. The reclaimed water is delivered through a system of distribution pipes that is completely separate from the drinking water distribution system. These pipes are painted purple, which is the color code for reclaimed water.

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Constructed Wetlands

Another one million gallons per day of water from the Southern Region Water Reclamation Facility is sent to the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, a constructed wetland located on Jog Road in suburban Delray Beach.

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The Department has also developed a second constructed wetland, Green Cay Wetlands, that is approximately 100 acres in size, giving the Department the capability to recycle another two to three million gallons per day of the highly-treated wastewater effluent.

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In addition to preserving our fresh water resources, the constructed wetlands create valuable wildlife habitat and offer the public much-needed green space for passive recreation activities like walking, bird watching, and nature photography.

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Benefits of Palm Beach County's Reclaimed Water Program:
Irrigation with reclaimed water is a simple, low-cost, user-friendly way to help conserve our fresh drinking water supplies.

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Palm Beach County's Reclaimed Water Program is easy on your wallet, too. There is no connection charge for reclaimed water service, and only a minimal monthly commodity charge is billed to the customer, regardless of the amount of reclaimed water used.

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This is a bargain compared to the cost of using drinking water for landscape irrigation.

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· Customers save money on their water bills because reclaimed water is less expensive that drinking water.

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· Reclaimed water helps lawns and golf courses thrive because it leaves traces of nitrogen and phosphorous that act as fertilizers.
· The use of reclaimed water increases the amount of fresh drinking water available.

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· Water recycling helps the environment.

· Reclaimed water is not subject to water restrictions for irrigation.

· Reclaimed water helps to recharge ground water aquifers.

Canal/Lake Water Level

Thursday morning is one of the mornings that we get our lawn watered.

The sprinklers did not come on.

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I saw Scott from Seacrest during the day and he told me the water level is too low.

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My condo is at the north west side near the intake water pipe. There are other areas in the village that have the same problem.

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We have had this problem before but never since we are getting the reclaimed water.

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He said that they have to dredge the canal.

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That is what I suggested to Bumolo when I called him this summer as the canal was clogged from the pipe bursting near the footbridge.

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He was not interested in what I had to say.

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I also mentioned the same thing to Pat Blunk at the opening of the new office. He said they were working on it. Nothing happened.

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What will it take to light a fire under these people?

WATER TABLE - WHAT IS IT

Make each thing as simple as possible – but no simpler (Einstein)
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Hi all
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There has been some interesting discussion about the “Water Table” here in South Florida as regards the level of our lakes.
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What is this all about;
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let’s have a look.

First a few acronyms:

USGS: United States Geological Survey

NGVD: National Geodetic Vertical Datum (A simplified view is Mean Sea Level-

DATUM: A piece of Data
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That should do it-
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The USGS operates National, near real time, data collection systems. They rely upon information collected by thousands of sensors and are coordinated in mainframe computational facilities. One of the items they monitor is Water Table Levels.

For this exercise we will zero in of the 214 monitoring stations here in Florida and more particularly
on those stations in Palm Beach County:

REF: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/fl/nwis/current/?type=gw
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At the Referenced Web site you may see graphics for Jupiter, Tequesta and Boca Raton: and 211 other sensor sites in Florida What do these graphics tell us:

Jupiter: Land surface Datum Plane is 25.1 Feet above NGVD
Water level is circa 23 Feet above NGVD hence the mean level is 2 feet below the surface; we should be so lucky.—
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Tequesta: Land surface Datum Plane is 14.5 feet above NGVD
Water level is circa 1.2 feet above NGVD hence the mean water level is 13.3 feet below the surface
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Boca Raton: Land surface Datum Plane is 18.7 feet above NGVD
Water level is circa -.50 feet below NGVD hence mean water level 19.2 feet below the surface.

Folks; it’s hard to beat these numbers, look at the graphics; the levels have been worse but they are not good.

It not impossible, but it would take an incredible volume of water to fill our lakes.

Dave Israel

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In removing the disfunctional graphics, I lost the Comment stream; fortunately I had them backed up elsewhere.

The two comments are pasted below.
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1 said...
Very interesting data David but how does it explain the Cypress Lake situation, where according to Elaine, the water level is about 2 feet below the turf line?

Ours seems to be about 5 feet.If it is impossible!!!!! or not realistic!!!!!to refill our lakes, what are the options available to ensure that we are not looking at a River of Grass or a Swamp in the coming years?

Being a snowbird, I never saw it, but apparently the lakes are full during the rainy season or when a Hurricane hits.

How can we conserve that water level?

Lake Okeechobee was below 10 feet last year or the year before and now it is above 13 feet. How come they were able to maintain that level and not us?

And there is still Cypress Lake which is not as low as us while being on the same water table level.

Could it be that they have maintained a regular purchase of recycled water while we did not?

We are still not getting our agreed contractual capacity of recycled water everyday.

Can you find out from the public records the amount of water sold to each contractor by the County and do you have any comments on my questions above?

Thanks.

Andre

There must be a reason.

Andre
Feb 11, 2009 8:34:00 PM


CVBLOGGER said...
Hi Andre,

The thing about Cypress Lakes, as noted by Elaine, is that they are allocated up to 700K gallons daily and have much less Water surface.

I believe we should try taking our full quota daily for 1 month and see if we can gain any ground; my only point being, it's going to be a hard slog.

Sorry about the graphics not opening I will take a look at the problem, and if I cannot fix; I will take the graphics down.

They may be seen at the referenced site.

In order to keep the level high, one could line the lakes. This is tricky in reverse; as when the water table rises things could become troublesome.

We could try negotiating for a higher limit but there is an out in the agreement if insufficient Reclaimed water is available, the Reclaimed water limit may be reduced.

Lake Okeechobee is a different kettle-of-fish; it is a real lake, tied into the flood control system of all of Southern Florida.Keep in mind that our, so called lakes and canals, are really Catch-Basins and Drainage-Ditches respectively.

Dave Israel

Recycled water purchase

Since I first read the meter (Jan 26,2009)calculating the amount of water being pumped into our poor lakes, canals and lagoons, UCO has purchased 3,445,550 gallons of recycled water whereas it was allowed 11,250,000 gallons. This is only 30% of our complement.

We have therefore spent $137.80 instead of the $ $450.00 it would have costed us should UCO had cared for the value of our lakes as an asset to our Village and should UCO had realized that it is its responsability to provide sufficient water for our irrigation and offer some beauty to its owners.

This fact coupled with the lack of rain in January and February is creating this lack of water to properly water our lawns and flowers.

All things considered why do we limit ourselves to only 750,000 gallons a day? We are spending millions on buses, cable, entertainment while the 2009 UCO budget is only $ 10,950.00 to maintain a proper level for our lakes which is essential for proper irrigation.
In 2008 we have spent $3,475.52 out of a budget of $9,125.00 dollars which is in the 30% range also.