There are two monitoring wells instrumented with real-time data acquisition
equipment. Water level pressures and water quality are monitored in the
aquifer confining unit and in the unconfined aquifer above the confining unit
at depth of 300 feet and 130-140 feet below land surface, respectively.
A single-zone monitoring well will be instrumented with real-time data
acquisition equipment. Water level pressures and water quality are monitored
at the targeted fresh-water storage zone in the Upper Florida Aquifer at
depths between 350 to 880 feet below land surface.
A single-zone monitoring well where water level pressures and water quality are monitored at depths about 140 feet below land surface.
This well serves two purposes, it provides water recharge to, and recovery from, the aquifer. Treated surface water is recharged, stored, and recovered from the Upper Floridian Aquifer at depths between 570 to 880 feet below land surface.
This is a dual-zone monitoring well instrumented with real-time data
acquisition equipment. Water level pressures and water quality are monitored at two zones: (1) in the Upper Florida Aquifer at a depth between 570 to over 610 feet below
land surface and (2) in the Avon Park permeable zone at depth of about 1000-1054 feet
below land surface.
The pressure filter media requires that it be occasionally
cleaned to maintain its filtering efficiency. The particles removed by the
filter are backwashed into the ponds to be dried and removed from the
facility. They are not discharged back into the river.
Filtration treatment is required before freshwater from the
river is pumped to recharge the aquifer. The facility includes a
custom-engineered pressurized media filter for filtering freshwater pumped
from the river. This highly filtered water then passes to the UV units for
microbiological disinfection.
The Ultra-Violet (UV) units provide environmentally-friendly
anti-microbial treatment to the freshwater pumped from the river after
filtration. The filtered and disinfected water then passes to the ASR well for
recharge into the aquifer.
The cascade aerator is a series of steps which the stored
freshwater recovered from the aquifer flows over. Aeration is accomplished
similar to a flowing stream. Cascade aeraors increase the amount of
dissolved oxygen in the water and makes it similar to surface water. It also
reduces dissolved gases that may be present in the recovered water.
The river water intake structure was designed to minimize pumping fish and other macro biological
communities into the ASR facility. Occasionally, a burst of compressed air is
pumped into the intake to remove any particles that may have adhered onto the
intake's screen.
A look of the facility from the entrance.
A look of the facility from the small backwash pond.
A look of the facility from the intake structure.
A look of the facility from the large backwash pond.
The ASR Program team will use the pilot facility as the platform to conduct several engineering and scientific studies. These studies include:
- Test the ASR well and treatment systems to avoid shut downs during official cycle testing.
- Build-up the "target storage volume" to increase potential recoverability.
- Evaluate the effect of storage time on the recoverability and water quality.Â
- Evaluate pressure build-up around the ASR well.
- Evaluate water quality and geochemical changes as the treated freshwater moves through the aquifer from and to the ASR well.
- Mimic the projected operation of the full-scale system.
- Determine if there is any upward movement of stored water into the unconfined aquifer.
- Evaluate upconing of brackish water when recovery the treated stored freshwater that has displaced the brackish/salty water in the aquifer.