BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—Save Our Lakes members joined Clay County Commissioners in proclaiming April as water conservation month during the board of county commissioners’ March 28 meeting.
SOLO President Vivian Katz-James, Vice President Chandler Rozear, Board member Webb Farber and members Edwin Bennett, Iris Bennett and Diane Bennett joined other officials in marking the event.
While reading the proclamation, Commission Chair and Lake Region resident Betsy Condon said 90% of Florida’s drinking water comes from aquifers and that over the last 25 years, April has been designated as water conservation month because it is one of the state’s driest.
Katz-James touted the Black Creek Water Resource Development Project, now under construction, as the most important water conservation project in northeast Florida.
“Believe it or not,” she said, “our community: Keystone Heights is one of the two major recharge areas for the Florida aquifer, you’re drinking water and mine, and so this project is huge.”
Clay County Utility Authority Executive Director Jeremy Johnston noted that the theme of the 2023 Water Conservation Month is leak detection.
“We do have an active leak detection program,” Johnston said. “So, when someone’s meter is running continuously, it gets flagged, and we reach out to them.”
Johnston said that since 2014, the utility has contacted nearly 27,000 customers through its leak detection program, saving an estimated 332 million gallons.
“And we’re making further investments in that where customers will actually be able to set their own alarms and manage their own water use, and that’s coming in the coming months” he added.
Johnston said that the utility’s average customer daily water use of 66 gallons a day compares favorably with other water utilities in Florida and the southeastern U.S. He also said one-third of CCUA customers have access to reclaimed water for irrigation use, which reduces withdrawals from aquifers.
Doug Conkey of the St. Johns River Water Management District joined the Keystone Heights City Council for the city’s proclamation of April as water conservation month.
Mayor Karen Lake read the proclamation which said, in part: “Leak prevention is commonly thought to be the first step in conserving water; the City of Keystone Heights will encourage citizens and businesses to focus on fixing leaks.”
Conkey, the district’s intergovernmental coordinator for Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns Counties, said the average household leaks about 10,000 gallons of water a year.
“As you walk around the house throughout the year, and you hear that drip, drip, drip, 10% of those homes on average are going to leak more than 90 gallons a day,” he said. “The good news is that it’s easily correctable, and in doing that, you are going to save yourself about 10% on your water bill. Sign me up for saving money.”
Conkey added that in Florida, 50% of water use is consumed outdoors for irrigation.
