Year in News: No. 8

The city of Port St. Joe celebrated the opening of its new $21 million water plant, tapping into surface water, the Chipola River, rather than wells tapping the underground Floridan Aquifer.

The celebration was a bit tempered.

Construction and other delays postponed the opening of the plant for several months and during the transition from old to new plant there was controversy regarding the city’s failing to meet several testing limits on the presence of potentially dangerous chemicals, chloramines, in the drinking supply.

The outcry over chloramines was drowned out once the new plant opened and the use of a rust inhibitor, polyphosphates, to help flush the system created a problem with discolored and not particularly tasty water.

The city also came under fire from the county for the increase in water rates it was charging for residents as the city seeks to establish itself and its new plant as a regional supplier.

A FDEP official appeared before the city commission to pronounce the plant state-of-the-art, the use of a rust inhibitor and flushing part of normal operations for any water plant and the water not a “health” issue.