To explore alternatives to existing groundwater supplies in the Southwest Florida Management District, Ardaman & Associates, Inc., screened potential technologies to reduce or replace groundwater consumption. The following technologies were screened: (1) use of once-through groundwater cooling for power plants or industrial facilities, (2) other cooling options, (3) use of surface water instead of groundwater for industrial makeup water and agricultural irrigation, (4) use of retired clay settling areas as reservoirs for water storage, and (5) use of phosphogypsum process water for process and product cooling. A final feasibility analysis was performed on a combination of technologies (3) and (4).
The feasibility analysis demonstrated that storage provided by long-term settlement of the clay surface could be used to hold water pumped from a nearby stream or river during high flow periods and provide raw water for industrial of agricultural uses for $0.23 to $0.82 per 1000 gallons.
John E. Garlanger, with Patrick A. Kennedy and Francis K. Cheung, Ardaman & Associates, Inc. May 2005.