I dropped in on the Indian River County Soil and Water Conservation District Board meeting yesterday afternoon, and it was a blast as usual. Really. I know that’s a bad sign, but a small group of smart ag guys talking about water and our future can be quite educational, if not exciting.
What I learned was that one of the county consultants for the proposed expansion of the North County RO Treatment Plant, is just throwing the ag guys crumbs in hopes of keeping them satisfied. Not. It seems their modeling results are not available for review by the SWCD or the existing legal users they represent (holders of Consumptive Use Permits for wells). That means it is impossible for substantially affected stake-holders to determine the accuracy of the model that the County intends to use for projecting future water quality and quantity in the area around the expanding well-field. Not good. They gave the impression they didn’t really care.
I asked one of the consulting engineers about the status of the related RO brine marsh that is being proposed to dilute the industrial wastewater from the expanding RO plant (see previous postings), and was told (1) the US Army Corps of Engineers had “signed off†on the application already; and (2) Florida DEP loved the project, and had no problems with permitting it, either. When pressed, she mentioned that there was a manatee issue that was being reviewed by US Fish & Wildlife, but that would be taken care of soon.
I called the US Army Corps of Engineers, Merritt Island Regulatory Office, of course, to get the word straight from them. Tamy Dabu, regulatory scientist par excellence, said nobody there had signed off on anything. In fact, the problems NMFS and others had identified during formal consultation had yet to be shared with the applicant, because they were still waiting for the US Fish & Wildlife Service comments on possible manatee issues. Interpretation: not smooth sailing ahead for the County’s RO brine engineered marsh project, since NMFS had recommended permit denial.
Ms. Dabu also mentioned that she had talked with the DEP regulatory biologists, and they had a number of unanswered questions about the project, too. My take home message, unfortunately, is that I can’t trust the County’s paid consultant to tell the truth. Since I’m paying part of her salary, I find this distressing. I’m also mystified. What’s to gain by not being straight about the future of our water?