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In Northeast Florida we are fortunate to have a clean and relatively abundant source of water - the Floridan Aquifer, a huge, underground natural reservoir. Most communities in Florida obtain all their drinking water from the Floridan Aquifer. As our communities continue to grow rapidly, more and more demand is placed on the aquifer, so that by the year 2020, we may run short. Some areas have already seen shortages in times of drought.
In addition to actively promoting water conservation, JEA is always looking for ways to reduce the amount of fresh water we withdraw from the aquifer and simultaneously reduce the amount of treated wastewater discharged into the St. Johns River. One way is to reuse the treated wastewater for purposes other than drinking, bathing, or, other sanitary uses. Reclaimed water is important to JEA’s sustainability efforts.
Reclaimed water is the highly treated (to nearly drinking water standards), filtered, and disinfected effluent from JEA's Water Reclamation Facilities that is safe to use for things like irrigation of lawns, golf courses, highway medians, common areas, and parks. Reclaimed water is also used in industrial processes such as power generation. With the encouragement of the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, JEA is putting some of that reclaimed water to good use. Here's how:
- JEA irrigates trees on our 20 acre tree farm with reclaimed water from the District II Water Reclamation Facility.
- We send up to one million gallons a day of reclaimed water to JEA's Northside Generating Station. Plans are also underway to provide up to two million gallons of reclaimed water per day to St. Johns River Power Park for use in emissions scrubbing devices and irrigation.
- We provide reclaimed water to certain golf courses, industrial, and other commercial customers for landscape irrigation, in most cases, replacing water that would otherwise be withdrawn from the aquifer under a Consumptive Use Permit (CUP) issued by the SJRWMD.
- Residential reclaimed water is available to JEA customers in St. Johns County in the following communities: Aberdeen, Durbin Crossing, Nocatee, and River Town. All in-ground irrigation systems within these DRI’s will be supplied by reclaimed water only.
In 2009, JEA is providing more than 10 million gallons of reclaimed water per day to our customers and in doing so, conserving 10 million gallons of fresh water each day.
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