Niceville Manager Lays Out Plan To Increase Reclaimed Water Use, Lower Homeowner Costs

Water Woes = Planned For

City Manager Deitch invested significant time talking about the city’s plan to reduce its drinkable water consumption and improve reclaimed water quality over the next couple of years. He outlined a threefold approach to help the city reduce the amount of drinkable water used by residents without straining them. City officials also hope this program will reduce homeowners monthly water bills. 

Deitch says he has continued to work with Eglin Air Force base, where he served last in the Air Force and has a direct relationship with base leadership, to get permits approved to put reclaimed water pipes down on their land on the north side of College Boulevard. He believes the permits will be approved soon, and the county work crews charged with building out the infrastructure will begin on their tasks. He told the group to expect project completion between a year and 18 months – or Summer 2025 at the latest. 

The second portion of the city’s plan to reduce water use comes from the north. City Manager Deitch noted that the City of Niceville is in a water caution area. He told the group that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) limits the city to pulling three million gallons of drinking water daily from the Floridian Aquifer. That aquifer, which provides most of the state’s drinking water, must replenish over time from rain and river water – hence the need for rationing. “Our permit limits are very rigid, and the DEP has said, ‘don’t ask for more, you’re not getting more,'” Deitch said. 

To bring more water that is not subject to those restrictions, city leadership plans to tap into a water line the county has run from Crestview in the north to use water from outside the aquifer. 

Finally, the city water and sewer department of the city has begun to talk about ideas to put reclaimed water tanks somewhere in the city – maybe on the Eglin Golf Course or in the vicinity of Deer Moss Creek (according to Deitch) that would hold reclaimed water and reduce the issues residents using reclaimed water are experiencing, like clogged up pipes and sprinklers. 

“We actually met with our engineers [Thursday, February 1] and had a long meeting; this was part of the conversation,” He said. “But that’s a project it’s probably a year or two off now. But [it’s] something that we’re actively working towards to solve this problem so that we know that the waters are clean and don’t cause problems.”

According to Deitch, both the State College and the golf course have asked to hook into a future system like this – which would generate revenue for the city in the long run and make water potentially cheaper for everyone else.