Palm Beach County Water Utilities

Acreage road to get public water by early next year

A majority of Hamlin Boulevard property owners, between 140th Avenue North and Avocado Boulevard, have voted in favor of paying $9,924 each for a public water pipe to extend to their road. They will have to pay additional fees to connect to the water line, which isn't mandatory.

"Our water is horrible," said Hamlin Boulevard resident Vickie Smith. "I'm on my third washing machine ... our second pool pump and our second water softener system. My tubs are ruined."

Not everyone on the section of road wants public water though: three of the 11 properties voted against it and two didn't respond, while six were in favor of it, said Palm Beach County Water Utilities Spokesman Robert Nelton.

Resident Dave Chadwick was against the proposal.

"It's not that I don't want it," Chadwick said. "I don't want to pay that kind of money for it."

Palm Beach County commissioners in late June approved a special assessment for the work, which should be complete and ready for residents to hook up to in February.

All 11 residents must pay $9,924, but can do so over the course of 20 years by paying 5.5 percent interest.

Under a policy Indian Trail created this year, if more than 50 percent of property owners in an area between one-quarter and one-half a mile support getting public water, the request is recommended for approval by the district's board of supervisors. Palm Beach County Water Utilities then oversees the construction and costs.

AKA Services is handling the $109,682 Hamlin project. The company's registered agent is Josephine Basile, according to the state's Division of Corporations.

Three of the six property owners in favor of public water are members of the Basile family, according to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser.

AKA Services in September won an 18-month contract, with an option to renew, to perform work for Palm Beach County Water Utilities on an "as-needed" basis, Nelton said.

The company has already worked on several projects ahead of the Hamlin one, Nelton said.

Only 144 properties are connected to the county's water utility in Indian Trail Improvement District, which governs several aspects of the roughly 40,000-resident Acreage.

Jupiter's reverse osmosis process helps South Florida towns dodge ...

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

When the rest of Palm Beach County is forced to turn off the sprinklers and watch drought-parched lawns turn brown, residents in Highland Beach are free to water.

The small seaside town is the only area in the county where residents are not required to follow water restrictions imposed by the South Florida Water Management District. All of the town’s water comes from the brackish Floridan Aquifer, which is not affected by drought.

The utility is one of six in Palm Beach County that have tapped the deep Floridan. The water is then treated using a reverse-osmosis system that removes salt and other impurities.

Jupiter, the first government in Palm Beach County to use the technology, now has one of the largest reverse-osmosis systems in South Florida. Town officials decided to build the plant in the late 1980s, after studies showed an aquifer closer to the surface would not produce enough water to support future growth.

Jupiter’s utility can treat up to 70 percent of its water supply using the reverse-osmosis system.

“In Palm Beach County, they were the pioneer,” said Mark Elsner, administrator of water supply development for the South Florida Water Management District.

Most public utilities in South Florida draw water from the surficial aquifer, which is shallower than the Floridan Aquifer and is replenished by rainfall. During droughts, though, the fresh water in the aquifer is depleted, allowing subterranean salt water to creep into the system.

Once salt enters a utility’s well, it can take months or years before the water can be used again for public drinking. Sometimes the wells are lost forever.

The Floridan Aquifer, more than 1,000 feet deep, doesn’t need rain to replenish, Elsner said.

Once brackish water from the Floridan is pumped to the surface, reverse-osmosis plants force the water through special membranes at a pressure of up to 1,000 pounds per square inch. These filters trap salt and other impurities, allowing only water to pass through.

But the process is costly. The saltier the water, the more power is needed to produce more pressure. Palm Beach County does not have a plant capable of stripping salt from sea­water, the most expensive to treat.

“The pressure makes it expensive,” Jupiter Utilities Director David Brown said. “Power is very expensive.”

As Jupiter grew, officials relied on impact fees – a one-time charge on new development – to help pay for the plant.

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