Ribbon Cutting at New Water Treatment Plant

New plant is equipped to service more than 1,000 Big Cypress residents

By Jaime Restrepo

BIG CYPRESS — It was day to celebrate in Big Cypress; a special day that puts to rest years of anticipation, because now the Big Cypress community has a brand new water treatment plant. Residents, tribal officials and employees were on hand to witness the momentous occasion. The ceremony took place on Monday, Nov. 29 with a ribbon cutting ceremony and luncheon, complete with a tour of the new facility.

Director of Utilities Susie Kippenberger gave a brief introduction on the water plant and a narrative on the history and scope of the project. The overall project included not only the water treatment plant, but a waste transfer facility as well as a fuel station, water supply wells and a waste treatment plant.

The water plant was designed in 2000 by Jordan, Jones and Goulding. Construction commenced in 2002 with Winter Environmental as the contractor and a planned completion date in November of 2004–a goal date they met.

Tribal officials were present for the ribbon cutting, including Big Cypress Council Representative David Cypress, President Moses Osceola, Brighton Council Representative Roger Smith, Big Cypress Board Representative Paul Bowers Sr. and Tribal Treasurer Mike Tiger. Each spoke of the days when they were young and water was a rare commodity.

“It was a long time in coming,” said David Cypress. “If you have been living in Big Cypress for the past 25 years, and been drinking the water, you must have cast iron stomach.”

“Water is gold,” he added. “Now we have it.”

Moses Osceola congratulated David Cypress, Mitchell Cypress and Kippenberger for working extremely hard on the project and making the water treatment plant come to pass.

“Back in the old days when we were growing up, all we had were hand-powered wells,” said Osceola. “That was our water supply. We drank whatever came up from the ground. The smell of the water could knock you out.

“The Big Cypress community is growing and the water supply is important. There is future development planned," added Osceola.

Paul Bowers Sr. recalled his childhood with his grandparents and how they procured water by cracking cap rocks and extracting the water that came out.

“Now there is clean water and maybe now we can soften up our stomachs,” Bowers said.

Tribal Treasurer Mike Tiger opened by saying the new plant will lead to “quality water.”

He continued, “Big Cypress has done without quality water for many years. The previous treatment facility was outdated, with a filtration system that was not maintained and did not have sufficient capacity.”

Tiger spoke about the capacity of the new system and how it can serve the current population with plenty of room for expansion. While serving as Area Director in Nashville, Tenn. for the Indian Health Service (IHS), Tiger monitored the project and helped get funding for the facility from the IHS.

“It gives me great honor to see the fruition of hard work of people like David Cypress and Susie Kippenberger and everybody who has been involved in this facility,” said Tiger. “The plant is just as good, if not better than any other plant around the country. We drank well water; drank out of cisterns and cap rocks. We would dig a hole in the ground and come back an hour later to drink the water that had filtered into the hole. Now we have quality water. We have a facility we can be proud of.”

All five officials, along with Kippenberger, assembled behind the ceremonial ribbon painted with Seminole colors, with a huge pair of scissors. The scissors were large enough for all to grasp as they cut the ribbon, officially opening the water plant.

Plant Supervisor Donnie Walker said, “The plant can process up to one million gallons of water per day. Eighty percent of the water is drinkable while the other 20 percent is waste water, used to eliminate all the impurities removed from the other 80 percent that is piped to the community.”

When asked about the waste water Walker said, “The 20 percent is sent to the waste water treatment plant for further treatment, before it is returned to the ground.”

The heart of the plant consists of two banks of filters, also referred to as “skids,” that treat the water via nanofiltration. That is, the filters have special membranes that filter out the tiniest particles from the water as it is pumped from ground wells. Prior to the water reaching the filters, it is treated with sulfuric acid and antiscalant.

The filter banks do the hard work of taking out the solid impurities. The filtered water is further treated with sodium hypochlorite and fluoride to kill any bacteria. The quantities used are minimal thereby eliminating any funny taste in the water.

Additional treatment includes implementing two forced air degassifiers to remove hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. By the way, hydrogen sulfide is what gives water that egg smell. The substance, in gas form, is extremely dangerous. The plant is fed by three wells, each about 75 feet in depth with a capacity of 225 gallons per minute, per well.

As for the end product, pure water, Walker said, “That would be the same thing as you would get from a bottle of DASANI, a brand of bottled water.”

Walker also said that presently 250,000 gallons are treated per day, adding that the plant design will accommodate “future growth and capacity needs.”

This equates to one bank operating each day instead of two. The plant alternates filter banks each day. In the event of severe demand, the plant can run both banks simultaneously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the event demand exceeds the plant’s capacity, the plant was designed for the addition of a third bank of filters.

Presently, the plant can service in excess of 1,000 families. This assumes that the average family of four consumes about 2,000 gallons of water per month.

The new plant is integral to the waste treatment plant because waste water from the water plant must be treated prior to its return to the ground. There is also a network of infrastructure, including water mains and pumps, to maintain water supply and pressure throughout Big Cypress. Behind the new plant is a storage tank with a capacity of one million gallons.

Other storage tanks include a 400,000 gallon ground storage tank located on West Boundary Road, as well as the signature water tower, with a capacity of 100,000 gallons. All three tanks are interconnected. Water can flow back and forth among the three tanks.

The water tower is used to maintain water pressure in addition to a series of water pumps, including fire demand pumps that will automatically activate as needed to supply water for fire fighting. The system configuration ensures an ample supply of water, even if demand spikes due to fire fighting or other emergency.

“There is even an emergency generator system to keep the pumps running in the event of a power failure,” said Walker.

Operating and controlling the plant is automated. The plant boasts a state of the art computer system that monitors the status of all components, water flow, water pressure and demand. The operators can track vital functions via computer displays. Quality and capacity were critical factors that went into the design and construction of the Big Cypress water plant.

Given the future growth and development that is slated for Big Cypress, the plant in poised to satisfy the future needs of the community and then some.