Coquina Coast asks for $ commitment from partners; Bunnell backs out
DeLand City Commission to decide on the city's participation
By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER
posted May 7, 2010 - 5:34:23pm
As plans for the Coquina Coast desalination project move forward, cost looms as a major factor for cities and utility providers.
It's already caused one, the City of Bunnell, to drop out.
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Jerry Salsano, consulting engineer to the St. Johns Water Management District said commitments from the partners are expected by Friday, May 28.
He expects to know more after the next meeting, set for 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 12, at Palm Coast Community Center. The meeting, at 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE, is open to the public. It will give municipal leaders a final opportunity to ask questions before the deadline.
DeLand City Engineer Keith Riger said he expects to make a presentation to the DeLand City Commission meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, May 17, at DeLand City Hall, 120 S. Florida Ave. He will ask their direction on the matter.
"There's another big check due," Riger said.
Riger explained that the partners have three choices for involvement in the next phase:
1. Don't subscribe — pay no money, and have no part in the project.
2. Become an ex officio member, with no voting rights, at a cost of $30,000 to $50,000.
3. Become a full member at a cost of $100,000 to $200,000.
The final cost per member will be determined based on total cost of the plant and the number of partners sharing in that cost.
The total cost for construction of the Coquina Coast plant is currently estimated at $1.3 billion. It may produce up to 80 million gallons a day of purified water by 2050.
Coquina Coast will be the most ambitious and costly desalination plant in the country.
The project is the result of a push from the St. Johns River Water Management District to find alternative water sources to protect the aquifer — the primary source of this part of the state for water — as the population grows.
The St. Johns Water Management District will provide up to $2.2 million in funding and administrative services for the development of a detailed plan for a seawater desalination facility, and up to $14 million for construction.
That, along with other state and federal grants, could cover perhaps half the cost of the plant.
Partners who had indicated interest in Coquina Coast are the Water Management District; Flagler, Marion and St. Johns counties; the Dunes Community Development District; and the cities of Palm Coast, DeLand, Mount Dora, Leesburg, Bunnell and Flagler Beach.
The City of Bunnell decided not to participate, at least for now.
Bunnell's Director of Community Development Mick Cuthbertson said the latest St. Johns Water Management District population projections reduced Bunnell's anticipated needs for water.
The small city of Bunnell, with an estimated current population of less than 2,759, was expected to grow to 39,000 by 2030. The newest projects cut that by more than half, to 14,026. The estimated water need is just over 1.63 million gallons a day (mgd), and the city already has a permit to draw 1.4 mgd.
It would be very expensive for Bunnell to buy in — a price tag of millions of dollars — for perhaps just a couple of hundred thousand gallons a day, Cuthbertson said.
The City of Bunnell still supports the Coquina Coast project, he added, and may need to buy into it at some point in the future.
St. Johns County Commissioners voted to participate only as ex oficio members during a May 4 meeting. The St. Augustine Record [staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-05-05/county-pulls-back-desal-project] reported on May 5 that the St. Johns County Commission made the decision because of money. Paying only the funds to become an ex oficio partner would save the county $500,000 to $600,000 in study costs.
That could affect the location of the desalination plant, sources told The Beacon. The plant could be located farther south along the coast, closer to Volusia County.
Salsano said "absolutely nothing" has been decided yet. A number of sites are under consideration, and the decision will be made later, by the partners.
Flagler County, which has been at the Coquina Coast table all the way, has decided not to buy in as a full partner, but as an ex oficio member.
"We're still in the game. We're backing off slightly," Flagler County spokesman Carl Laundrie said, in a phone interview with The Beacon.
The City of Palm Coast rather than the county is the major provider of water in the area, he explained.
So far, DeLand is the only entity in Volusia County to partner in the Coquina Coast project.
DeLand's population was predicted to grow from 62,532 in 2010 to 82,000 in 2030, with water use growing from an average of 6.9 million gallons a day (mgd) in 2010 to 9.2 mgd in 2030.
The DeLand population is now projected to grow to 77,143 by 2030, or 69 percent more than in 1995. The city's projected water demand will rise to 8.36 mgd, rather than the earlier forecasted 9.2 mgd.
Volusia County Utilities now uses 5.7 mgd. That's now expected to grow to 12.26 mgd by 2030. The County of Volusia has not been a partner in the Coquina Coast project, and doesn't anticipate becoming involved at this point, because of the cost, Water Resources and Utility Director Gloria Marwick said.
For all of Volusia County — including the various cities — the current use is 63.81 mgd. That's expected to grow to 81.47 mgd by 2030.
As cities ponder scaled-back population projections and reduced water usage due to conservation and water-saving devices, plus the cost of tapping into Coquina Coast's pipeline, will many more partners back out?
Seminole County's Yankee Lake project has foundered, as potential partners faded away due to the cost. They would have to pay a lot of money up front, for uncertain future returns. There are also environmental objections to tapping the St. Johns River for an eventual 80 mgd of water for drinking and irrigation.
Riger doesn't think Coquina Coast will run into the same problems. Governance — who will make decisions — was also a major issue with the Yankee Lake plant under Seminole County's sole control. Coquina Coast will be a partnership, he said.
Riger thinks another small entity or two may drop out, but the project will move forward.
— pat@beacononlinenews.com
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