New Wastewater Disposal Rules Aimed at Protecting the Environment Could Have Drastic Climate Change Impacts

Recent regulatory agency initiatives in Southeast Florida will inevitably result in significant increased energy consumption as treatment levels necessitate highly energy dependent technologies.For the regional wastewater system, increased energy consumption is expected primarily from rule changes requiring phased elimination of open ocean discharge (with related reuse mandates), increased reuse requirements, as well as a separate rule change requiring high-level disinfection for future Class I Injection Wells. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impacts of these regulations in the context of treatment, associated cost and energy consumption.