$75 million of 'Star Trek' technology to transform Lee drinking water

Watching Star Trek growing up in Fort Myers, Mikes Maillakakis gravitated not to Captain Kirk nor Mr. Spock.

“Captain Kirk was doing this, and Mr. Spock was doing that, but whenever there was a jam, who did they call? Scotty,” Maillakakis said.

Like the Star Trek character, Maillakakis became an engineer.

Just as Captain Kirk often summoned Scotty, Lee County has called upon Maillakakis to help in a role that will impact about 20,000 Lee County households – about 50,000 people – and how they receive their drinking water beginning August 2018.

The Green Meadows Water Treatment Plant, which opened in 1977, is being rebuilt for $75 million. That will be paid over 30 years from Lee County Utilities rate increases that began three years ago but still have kept the county at a relative lower rate than its peers across Florida. Lee County Utilities customers pay $164.69 for 30,000 gallons of water, well below the $215.42 average of 21 other municipal areas in and around Southwest Florida.

Other than the $78 million JetBlue Park, spring training home of the Boston Red Sox, this marks the most expensive project undertaken in Lee County history.

The new plant, under construction east of I-75, south of Southwest Florida International Airport and north of Alico Road, will process an estimated 14 million gallons of water per day, an increase from the current plant’s capacity of nine million per day.

The plant will be the first of its kind in Southwest Florida, combining new with existing technology. The tech has terms like “reverse osmosis,” and “ion exchange,” but the end result will be simple: Clean drinking water processed from brackish and fresh water filtering in from the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and other sources.

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“This plant supplies the majority of water for Lee County utilities,” said Doug Meurer, assistant county manager. “The existing plant was not as reliable as it should have been. This creates a much more reliable, much safer way to provide water.”

The new Green Meadows will save the county money, too.

The current plant costs $1.29 to treat 1,000 gallons of water. The new plant will cost 52 cents for the same amount.

During a 60-minute tour of the construction site, one that has produced about 300 jobs, Maillakakis explained how water from three different depths below the ground would be cleaned and treated. The Cypress Lake High School graduate, chemical engineering major at the University of South Florida and self-described “nerd,” showed off the three focal points of the plant:

• Ion exchange. These five exchangers are giant containers that remove organic compounds and color from the water. They can process 3.9 million gallons of water per day.
• Reverse osmosis. There are 672 cartridge pre-filters and three reverse osmosis trains. These remove salt and hardness from the water, and the canisters, clustered together, resemble something from, well, a Star Trek movie.
• Degassifier and clearwell system. Prior to flowing through endless miles of pipes for distribution, the water gets degasified, which clears it of that “rotten egg smell.” It then flows through a 55,500 gallon storage tank with three switchbacks – a concrete maze – for disinfection. The system can process 14 million gallons of water per day.

“The truth is, the process we use is so good, we don’t even need the disinfection process,” Maillakakis said. “We have layers of protection. We have water quality analysis. Every hour, on the hour, they are checking the water quality.”

The average American uses 80 to 100 gallons of water per day, according to the United States Geological Survey. The new Green Meadows plant's capacity exceeds the estimated 5,000,000 gallons of water per day needed by its household customers by about 9,000,000 gallons. That excess water can be used by businesses and the area's fire departments. The county also easily can expand the plant by two more million gallons of water per day as the area grows.

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“This plant will be around for at least 50 years,” Maillakakis said. “We’re building in extra capacity now. We could easily expand by two million gallons per day with just a little bit more money.

“To get to this stage, it takes a lot of engineering. A lot of planning.”

Josh Petro, project manager for Garney, a water piping company hired by Lee County to do the bulk of the work, said the planning for a project of this magnitude has been extensive.

“You’re bringing together 60 to 80 people on any given day, and it can spike to 100 to 120,” Petro said. “To get everyone to work in concert is a daily challenge. It’s a unique challenge that presents obstacles every day. You have to keep in mind that a lot of these guys don’t have a working relationship before you start on this endeavor.

“You have to find creative ways to align everyone’s goals, so to speak, to motivate them to perform on any given day. There’s a lot of scheduling, a lot of pre-planning, a lot of meetings that are required every day to get the end result you need.”

Security measures are being put in place at Green Meadows, and the plant can operate for at least seven days without electricity because of an on-site generator.

“It’s the greatest reward and the greatest feeling when you get it done,” Petro said.

“We’re under budget and ahead of schedule,” Maillakakis said.

Connect with this reporter: David Dorsey (Facebook), @DavidADorsey (Twitter).

Men at work

The Green Meadows Water Treatment Plant will provide up to 14 million gallons of water per day for 20,000 Lee County households. Here is a look at the jobs behind the scenes:

•  60 to 80 people are working on the job site with spikes of 100 to 120 on peak construction days.
• There are 12 to 17 subcontractors on the site.
• 75 percent of the subcontractors are local.
• 300 local residents are estimated to work on site.
• Three FGCU graduates have been hired by companies working on the plant.
• Nine FGCU interns have worked on the plant.

Green Meadows by the numbers

• 8,557 tons of concrete have been poured
• 699 tons of concrete are left to be poured
• 719 valves have been or will be installed
• 6.3 miles of pipe will be installed at the plant
• 7.2 miles of pipe will be installed in the well field.