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Comprehensive Plan Potable Water Sub-Element Community Development Department Indian River County 7 Combined, the design capacity of the four public water treatment plants is 24,720,000 gallons/day, an amount sufficient to accommodate the existing combined average daily demand of 15,990,000 gallons/day. In 2006, the design capacity of the county’s regional potable water system was 12,070,000 gallons/day, while demand was 9,700,000 gallons/day. At that time, per capita water use was approximately 104 gallons a day. Currently, the plants operated by the county Utilities Department use the Upper Floridan aquifer as their primary water source, while the City of Vero Beach uses both the Surficial and Upper Floridan aquifers. The City of Fellsmere uses the Surficial aquifer only. Both the County and the City of Vero Beach use reverse osmosis to treat water drawn from the Floridian Aquifer, while the City also uses a lime softening process to treat water from the Surficial aquifer. The reverse osmosis process produces brine as a by-product. At the water treatment plants, an aeration and chlorination process treats the brine by-product. Prior to the brine being discharged into the Indian River Lagoon, aeration and/or marsh treatment removes hydrogen sulfide and other volatile contaminants, such as gross alpha particles and ammonia. Although the regional potable water system service area has been greatly expanded since 1995, there are still several existing subdivisions with undersized lots (subdivisions with lots less than one half acre that use individual wells and septic tanks) that are not yet served. While 94 of 183 residential subdivisions with undersized lots are now served by the county potable water system, one area that is not served is Vero Lake Estates, a large platted subdivision in the north part of the county. In 2006, the County Public Works Department and the County Utilities Department proposed several new infrastructure projects, including the construction of potable water and sanitary sewer lines in Vero Lake Estates. Because of the anticipated assessment charges, however, residents declined to enter into an agreement with the County. Since then, the county utilities department, under direction of the Board of County Commissioners, has installed approximately 7 ¼ miles of master planned water main lines with fire hydrants throughout Vero Lake Estates. In 2006, the total countywide permitted water withdrawal was approximately 72,659,360,000 gallons per year. Of the total permitted water withdrawals in 2006, potable water supply accounted for approximately 8%. Agriculture, including livestock, nurseries, and aquaculture, accounted for 82.3% of total permitted withdrawals, while golf course, landscape irrigation, recreation and other uses utilized the remainder of the total withdrawals. The table below summarizes this information.