Caffeine and sucralose testing on Marco Island proves reuse water in canals
Recently the City of Marco Island received an award for the “Most Outstanding Reuse Irrigation Program in Florida.” That seems a little more than ironic since the reuse water production facility on Marco Island is under investigation by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for multiple violations of its reuse permit, and also for the following new information.
For nearly 10 years we and others have stated that one of the primary causes of the pollution in Marco’s canals is the over 700,000,000 gallons of nutrient rich reuse water which is sold every year to select users for irrigation. That’s two million gallons every day which is sprayed on landscaping, with much of it percolating down through the sandy soil and into our canals. This has been denied repeatedly by the sewer department, members of City staff and prior City Councils.
However, in recent years there have been scientific techniques developed to test surface waters like Marco’s canals to look for chemical markers which remain present in sewage and reuse water after the filtration processes. Caffeine and sucralose, a widely used artificial sweetener, are two such chemical markers consumed daily by humans…