Florida Water Supply Process Essay

The need to implement AWS in the State of Florida has been well documented. As demand for water continues to increase with Florida’s growing population, a diversified water supply strategy will be necessary to augment withdrawals of traditional groundwater resources. One of the greatest challenges facing Florida water managers is the evaluation and prioritization process of selecting the best available alternatives. At first glance, it would seem to be a relatively straight forward process; select an alternative that will provide the greatest yield at minimal cost, while minimizing environmental and ecological impacts. But the water industry presents many unique and evolving socio-economic, regulatory and political challenges that must also

The basic premise is to have a predefined set of discrete alternatives, and through a mathematical process, compare the alternatives using a common scoring system. In the early 1970’s, Thomas L. Saaty revolutionized MCDA by introducing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The AHP utilizes a value-based method through a pairwise comparison of individual criteria that is normalized to arrive at a common scoring scale. The mathematical approach used in the AHP is based on operational research concepts and is not easily understood by non-technical people. Since the primary intent of the MCDA process as it applies to water supply planning is to have a transparent and fluid framework to guide the decision making process; the mathematical concepts associated with the AHP would limit transparency to most

A brief description of the alternatives to be evaluated is defined below.

Surface Water Storage (Reservoir) – This alternative consists of a 3.0 billion gallon surface water reservoir capable of providing 15mgd for 200 days a year.

Reclaimed Water Capacity Expansion – This alternative will increase reclaimed water production capacity of an existing facility an additional 7.5mgd.

Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis (RO) Treatment Plant – This alternative consist of constructing a new 20 mgd brackish water treatment facility and associated Lower Floridan Aquifer (LFA) wellfield.

Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Facility – This alternative consist of testing and development of a 10 mgd ASR facility.

Seawater Desalination Plant – This alternative consist of constructing a new 20 mgd seawater desalination facility.

Stakeholder