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Planning board recommends updated 10‑year water‑supply plan, including move toward Floridan aquifer wells
Summary
The board recommended forwarding the city's Evaluation and Appraisal Report and the updated 10‑year Water Supply Facilities Work Plan to the City Commission. Consultants said the plan addresses PFAS treatment (move to membrane/RO), forecasts growth to 60,600 by 2050, and scopes future Floridan aquifer wells and treatment skids.
The Hallandale Beach Planning and Zoning Board on May 12 recommended that the City Commission transmit the city's Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) amendments and the 2026 update to the 10‑year Water Supply Facilities Work Plan to state review, as required by Florida statutes.
Janine Wickriffey of Hazen & Sawyer summarized the WFWP update, saying it aligns the comprehensive‑plan amendments with the South Florida Water Management District’s Lower East Coast plan and addresses state comments. She said the city’s goals include complying with PFAS rules through a transition to membrane (reverse osmosis/nanofiltration) treatment and defining capital improvements to meet projected growth from roughly 43,100 residents today to about 60,600 at 2050 build‑out.
Wickriffey and the consultant team described the city’s existing treatment: lime softening (an older technology with about 10 MGD design capacity) and membrane skids installed around 2007 (two 3‑MGD skids for ~6 MGD design), with recent construction of a first RO skid and design underway for additional RO capacity. The consultants said the Biscayne aquifer is fully allocated and the city is planning preliminary work to develop Floridan aquifer wells (deeper wells with additional treatment) and related infrastructure; the plan includes generator upgrades, injection well backups and phased capital projects to maintain reliable supply through 2050.
Board members asked technical questions about the source of additional supply, saltwater intrusion risks, the location of potential Floridan wells and whether the plan includes rate implications. Consultants said testing and further engineering are required for Floridan wells, reverse osmosis skids were sized to allow flexibility for higher salinity sources, and water‑rate analysis was not part of Hazen’s scope. Staff said the updated EAR and the water plan will be transmitted to the Florida Commerce (state review) after the Commission’s first reading, with the Commission first reading currently scheduled for June 22, 2026.
The board moved, seconded and unanimously recommended forwarding the EAR amendments and the 10‑year Water Supply Facilities Work Plan to the City Commission for transmittal to the state and further action.
