Drinking Water
Where does your water come from?
The Upper Floridan Aquifer supplies all drinking water required by our service area. DWU operates six coastal wells. These wells are permitted by the Northwest Florida Water Management District to provide up to 1.77 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) of the total that is required to provide water to our customers. Additional water supply capacity is provided by a remote wellfield developed jointly with South Walton Utility Company, Inc. These inland wells are also in the Upper Floridan Aquifer. Combined sources are plentiful to provide our customers with water well into the future.
The Floridan Aquifer is known to be a source of pristine water requiring very little treatment. Once pumped from the ground, it is disinfected with Chlorine gas or Sodium Hypochlorite and is sent to our customers through our distribution system. No additional chemicals are added. Our distribution system currently has over 9100 connections and over 145 miles of pipe in the ground.
DWU has five elevated storage tanks and one ground storage tank. Together with standby power at our wells, we have the capability to handle all peak hour and fire flow demands that may arise.
Wastewater
What happens when water goes down the drain?
Water that is flushed or otherwise goes down the drain is gathered by our sewer collection system and pumped to the George F. French Water Reclamation Facility by our lift station network. We currently own and operate 85 lift stations that either pump to another station or directly to the treatment plant. The plant is designed to treat 6.0 MGD.
Raw wastewater is then mechanically treated in our pre-treatment facility which removes any trash and grit that could adversely affect downstream systems. It then flows into our flow equalization basin which is used to buffer high instantaneous flows to a more constant flow rate which is ideal for further biological treatment.
Biological treatment occurs in one of 5 treatment trains known as oxidation ditches. This is where the mechanically cleaned wastewater is combined with a living, microbial population of bacteria and dissolved oxygen to remove the majority of the nutrients and harmful organics. The partially treated water is then sent to one of 6 clarifiers to remove most of the remaining solids which are either sent back to the oxidation ditch or wasted out of the process. The wasted solids are then further treated and dewatered, producting Class B Biosolids which are used as fertilizer on sold farms in Alabama.
The clarified water at this point reaches its first stage or basic-level of disinfection using Sodium Hypochlorite. It is then filtered using 10-micron cloth disc filters and disinfected again in our high-level chlorine contact chambers using Sodium Hypochlorite. At this point the water is ready for reuse.
Reclaimed Water
Where does the effluent from the WRF go?
While many treatment facilities discharge all or part of their effluent in surface waters or on spray fields, 100% of the effluent from our WRF is used as beneficial reclaimed water. The DWU reclaimed water operation began in 1985, making it one of the oldest in the state. The vast majority of the reclaimed water is sent into our reuse distribution system which is used for landscape irrigation of shopping centers, golf courses, parks, and residential areas in addition to WRF processes that require water.
When the demand for reclaimed water is lower than the amount being processed by the WRF, it is stored in one of 3 ground storage tanks which can hold approximately 6.5 Million Gallons (MG). It can also be stored in our Aquifer Storage & Recovery (ASR) system which is a way of storing reclaimed water in the ground when our tanks are full for later use. A very small portion of the water is discharged to our Rapid Infiltration Basins which is filtered again by fine sand and recharges the surficial aquifer. This normally occurs during periods of wet weather and is a way to relieve strains on our storage capacity.
When the demand for reclaimed water exceeds our storage capacity, we have to implement our Reclaimed Water Irrigation Schedule to ensure all of our reclaimed water customers have access to water at least 3 days per week.
Below you will find links to the watering schedule and reclaimed irrigation map. In addition to the watering schedule, you will see a suggested schedule that will also allow for alternating water schedules with your neighbors to allow for better pressures at individual properties. As a reminder, please schedule your yard maintenance activities to coordinate with your watering schedule.
Should you have any questions regarding this schedule, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Customer Service at (850) 837-6146. To view the Reclaimed Water Irrigation Schedule click HERE or click HERE to see the map of the Reclaimed Water Service Zones.