Well, well, well . . .

 

 

Cudjoe Key project gets go-ahead

 

 

 

BY TERRY SCHMIDA

 

 

 

The news that the Board of County Commissioners will build a deep injection well on Cudjoe Key was met with a roar of approval from area residents who had attended the April 15 meeting, and will now benefit from its construction.

 

 

“Thanks!” they yelled, following the prosaic and unanimous vote to proceed with the $7 million project.

The outcome of the decision will see treated wastewater from the Cudjoe Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, on Blimp Road pushed 2,000 feet deep, and away from the groundwater table.

However the victory was long in coming.

 

 

The green-light followed a year of activism by a group of Cudjoe neighbors who challenged the view of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority’s governing board that the plant was not processing an average of more than a million gallons of treated effluent daily. State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) rules require the building of a deep well once the 1 million gallon mark is passed.

 

 

However, a Florida International University (FIU) study commissioned by the FKAA and BOCC seemed to suggest that one deeper well would be better for the environment than the four 120-foot deep wells, which had been the aqueduct’s preferred option.

 

 

The study, and Cudjoe Key resident Mike Laudicina’s state and federal lawsuits pushing for the deeper well appear to have tipped the scales in favor of the big dig.

 

 

Worn down, the FKAA finally agreed to recommend the deep well option to the BOCC, though Laudicina and his lawyer Caron Balkany decided not to drop the lawsuits until the commission’s vote.

“The major issue will be taken care of if the BOCC actually comes up with the funding,” Caron had previously said.

 

 

That decision has now been made.

 

 

“Everything I’ve read about this issue made it clear that it was highly likely we were going to need a deep well eventually,” District Three Commissioner Heather Carruthers said weeks ago. “Let’s just get it over with.”

 

 

 

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