POAs question FKAA’s noncompliance with CRWS settlement agreement

Suggest using Sanctuary’s water quality lab

The Cudjoe Gardens and Sugarloaf Shores property owners associations contend that the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority is not honoring the commitments made in the settlement agreement reached last year over the use of shallow injection wells at the Cudjoe Regional Wastewater System treatment plant.

On Tuesday, the POAs sent a formal letter to FKAA Executive Director Kirk Zuelch and Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi demanding meaningful water quality testing and the dedicated deep well generator agreed upon in the settlement. The groups also have asked to speak at Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of County Commissioners.

In the legal agreement, reached in October, FKAA guaranteed the expeditious completion of a deep injection well, a generator dedicated to that well, monthly water quality monitoring, and restricted flow as shallow wells are utilized during deep well construction.

“We are deeply disappointed that FKAA and county representatives have been unwilling to meet with us to discuss the generator issue and the inability of the designated laboratory to conduct meaningful water quality monitoring in the vicinity of the shallow wells as more and more properties have come online with the new sewer system,” Cudjoe Gardens POA President Larry Francisco said.

FKAA agreed to collect surface water samples monthly from at least 12 locations nearby the shallow wells with results posted publically on its website. If a three-month test period showed significant increase in potentially harmful nutrients, FKAA was to cease issuing invitations to connect.

“Our goal has always been to protect the local surface waters. FKAA agreed to rigorous water quality testing. Unfortunately, the laboratory used by FKAA is not capable of performing these tests,” said Sugarloaf Shores POA President Chuck Licis.

The POAs contend that FKAA contractor Flowers Laboratory does not provide credible water quality analysis including setting a baseline before the shallow wells began operating. The associations conduct their own water quality monitoring utilizing the independent, not-for-profit, Southeast Environmental Research Center (SERC), which has been testing waters for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary for 20 years.

The associations also assert that FKAA is only providing a mobile generator that must be manually plugged in to power the deep well pump, leaving FKAA’s original plan in place to rely solely on the gravity-fed shallow wells in the event of a power outage.

CGPOA and SSPOA called on the aqueduct authority to retain the Southeast Environmental Research Center to properly perform the required surface and groundwater testing, install a properly-sized, permanent generator with an automatic transfer switch, and certify that the effluent will not overflow to the shallow disposal wells.

Cudjoe Gardens and Sugarloaf Shores property owners associations are voluntary organizations representing more than 500 members.

 

Contacts:

Larry Francisco, Cudjoe Gardens POA President, (305) 745-3637, [email protected]

Chuck Licis, Sugarloaf Shores POA President, (305) 394-7974, [email protected]

 

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