CAPE MAY – At its April 5 meeting, Cape May City Council heard an update on plans for the expansion of capacity at its desalination plant and improvement in the treatment of water for iron deposits.
The report by city consultants from CME Engineering and Triad Associates focused on the needed changes to the water utility plant and the opportunities for grant funding for the expensive endeavor.
The thrust of the engineering report is that the city faces a need to construct a new desalination plant to replace the existing 25-year-old structure. As part of that effort, the city’s water capacity will improve, as will its ability to deal with an increasing amount of iron seeping into the water supplied by the one Cohansey Aquifer well that the city has in use.
Capacity Problem
At present, the city provides water to itself, the municipalities of West Cape May and Cape May Point, and the Coast Guard Base and training facility. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) sets what is termed a “firm capacity” level, which the city is required to meet. Cape May water utility currently falls short of meeting that requirement.
Firm capacity is calculated by taking the peak usage point in the year and determining if that level of water usage can still be met when the well that supplies the most water is taken out of commission. For Cape May at present, the answer is no. Should its main well go down while in the peak water usage period, the city would have a problem meeting demand.
The need to increase the water capacity requires an expansion of the plant’s reverse osmosis desalination capability.
The presentation to the council made clear that the consultants do not consider the retrofitting of the existing structure as a viable option. They cite the small size of the existing building, the positioning of the electrical controls that are no longer supported by code, and the need to have space for new iron removal technology.
They also pointed to the inherent difficulties involved in renovating the plant and introducing new technology while keeping the daily distribution of water functioning.
The plan they presented calls for a new facility adjacent to the old one, with the existing plant demolished after the transition of all functionalities to a new one.
Iron Problem
The city currently uses a methodology for chemical sequestering of the iron. The method is permitted by DEP, as long as the iron present in the water is below certain limits. The problem the city confronts is the iron seeping into the water from the Cohansey well is approaching the sequestering limit set by the state and will soon require more extensive iron removal capability.
Introducing the iron removal capability to the existing desalination plant is a key difficulty, leading to the need for a new facility. The consultant estimated that a separate iron removal plant would cost between $7 million and $8 million without addressing the problem of firm capacity.
Proposal
The discussion of a new plant’s design included an increase from two to three trains, essentially flows, of water from the Atlantic City Aquifer going through reverse osmosis, making use of modern filtration technology.
The new facility would also house iron removal technology for the water from the Cohansey Aquifer, which might even allow for a greater percentage of the city’s water to bypass the more expensive desalination process. In addition, the facility would allow for the modernization of the electrical infrastructure.
The presentation placed an estimated cost for the new facility at $33 million.
Deputy Mayor Stacy Sheehan pressed the consultant on the issue of renovation of the existing facility largely in reaction to the high price tag associated with a new facility.
The second part of the presentation, led by Triad Associates, directly addressed the funding of the initiative. Triad, a Vineland company, specializes in securing grant funding for municipal projects. Triad and CME Engineering are part of a team addressing the Cape May water issue. The team was organized by former state Sen. Nickolas Asselta, who runs a Vineland-based consulting company, Aqua America.
Triad’s part of the presentation called the timing unusually good for finding grant monies for a project like the one proposed in Cape May. The city will become another municipality chasing the massive influx of federal infrastructure dollars. The triad consultants felt the city’s chances to obtain significant funding are strong.
The need to resolve the many issues related to the city’s water desalination plant took on the aura of new urgency during the presentation, as it became apparent that the city is already unable to deliver the correct water allocation to West Cape May. Council also heard of plans for the Coast Guard to expand its training facility, which would increase its demand on the water supply.
The city must now decide whether to proceed with the actual design of the new facility.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
