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Mid-December Date for Aloha Treatment Report

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: October 17, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - About 10 months behind schedule, an Aloha Utilities water treatment project is flowing again, with the application for a construction permit possible by mid-December.

The first part of a report from Aloha consultant Audrey Levine arrived Oct. 5, Aloha executives told Florida Public Service Commission staff during a recent conference here.

To satisfy PSC, Aloha agreed to spend an estimated $6.13 million on an anion exchange system to clean up its water supplies.

Many Aloha customers have complained for about a decade about discolored and foul-smelling "black" drinking water. The privately owned company provides water, sewer and reclaimed water service for some 25,000 residents, primarily in the Seven Springs-Holiday area.

The treatment project has been on hold until recommendations were made by Levine, a former University of South Florida professor. She has been working on the report while starting her new job with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in Washington, D.C.

With Levine's report in hand, a ground-water hydrologist hired by Aloha, David Gomberg, can now analyze any impact on ground-water supplies, turf and vegetation, Todd Brown from the PSC Office of Public Information explained.

The hydrology report becomes necessary because plans call for reclaiming water derived from the anion exchange waste disposal at Aloha's waste-water treatment plant, Brown elaborated.

By Oct. 29, Aloha is scheduled to submit an application for permit modification to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection regarding the waste-water treatment plant.

By Dec. 1, Levine is scheduled to file her final report for the second phase of the project on the ion-exchange process itself. That would clear the way for Aloha to file a construction permit with DEP by about Dec. 10, Brown said.

Projections now show construction of the treatment plant could wrap up by the end of May 2009, Brown noted. The next quarterly update meeting between Aloha and PSC is scheduled for early January.

Aloha intends to update its Web site with the new time line and other information, Brown added. The company also might provide customers with project updates through billing inserts on a regular basis.

That would help tremendously, according to Greg Giordano, chief legislative aide to state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. Fasano's staff gets a lot of phone calls from Aloha customers asking about the status of the project, Giordano said.

At this point, the treatment project is about 10 months behind the original timeline Aloha outlined in the settlement agreement with PSC, Giordano said.

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