Council retreat revisits old projects, intros new

By CHUCK BALLARO

Doug Griffiths he read while at a city managers convention

Besides the typical ones like lack of commercial not knowing your strengths and weaknesses, shutting out the youth and seniors, the top one that stood out was water quality “Communities that don’t have quality water are always failing and won’t be successful ” said People no longer demand it they expect

Annex which served as a kickoff to the budget season As a retreat is a kind of indepth workshop, no votes were cast, but lots of discussion was had on the more pressing city topics A s f a r a s w a t e r q u a l i t y w e n t U t i l i t i e s

Director Jeff Pearson warned that there needs to be enough water at buildout in 20 or so years, but that it would be hard to get there without conservation efforts

The city s five water treatment plants will require expansions in the coming years, with the North RO plant slated for that in four years

“The system must be designed for the Super Bowl Halftime Flush, a worst-case scenario We need to do a better job educating residents on the importance of water and conservation ” Pearson said Without conservation 136 million gallons of irrigation water will be needed daily With con- servation it would be an estimated 93 5 million gallons The city, using its twice a week watering system, is helping in that regard, officials said

But where will the city get the rest of its water particularly drinking water? By 2040 the city will need more than 32 million gallons per day and 48 million by buildout The current permitted capacity is 30 million gallons per day

A l t e r n a t e w a y s i n c l u d e t h e S o u t h w e s t

Aggregate mine in Charlotte County which would cost $50 million to $80 million Aquifer Storage and Recovery wells would cost between $150 million and $320 million, while a desalination plant, a last resort, could cost up to a halfbillion dollars

“Desalination requires a ton on energy and its See OLD AND NEW, page 4

Longtime islander and artist Leoma Lovegrove has announced plans to move her popular gallery off of Matlacha due to damage from Hurricane Ian

PHOTO PROVIDED