The Manatee Agricultural Reuse
System (MARS) Farm Connection Grant Program
Introduction
The Florida West Coast RC&D MARS Farm Connection Grant
Program will provide funding to connect Manatee
County's main MARS transmission line to an eligible
farmer's irrigation system. In partnership with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Manatee
County Utilities, the RC&D is providing development,
implementation and evaluation of this grant program.
Program Objectives
The objective of the RC&D MARS Farm Connection
Grant Program is to provide funding and technical
support to connect eligible
farmers to Manatee County's MARS System, within
available funding limits.
Goals Include:
-
Evaluating agronomic and economical
feasibility of reuse water for agricultural users
-
Reducing groundwater withdrawals
from the Floridan Aquifer in the Southwest Florida
Southern Water Use Caution Area (SWUCA), where
groundwater withdrawals exceed safe levels
-
Evaluating a county-wide wastewater
collection, recovery, and reuse system for economic
and agricultural sustainability
-
Providing irrigation system planning
assistance for optimal irrigation performance
-
Recycling wastewater to reduce
groundwater use
Background
The MARS system is a strategy to reduce aquifer
withdrawals and increase the drinking water supply by
providing alternative water sources for agricultural
irrigation. The overuse of groundwater in one of the
most stressed aquifer recharge areas in the state of
Florida, the Southern Water Use Caution Area (SWUCA),
has made finding alternative sources of water
critical.
Manatee County operates three regional water
reclamation facilities (WRFs) that have the total
capacity to treat 40.5 million gallons of wastewater
per day. All three of the WRFs depend upon irrigation
with reclaimed water to use the treated water.
Before MARS was conceived, each WRF facility operated
independently of one another. If one facility had
surplus water and another facility had excessive
demand, the County had no mechanism to move the
surplus water to the area of need. Through MARS, the
County has constructed a pipeline connecting the three
WRF facilities, giving the County the ability to
redirect surplus water along the pipeline to areas
where water is needed.
The County has received grant funding of approximately $20
million from EPA and SWFWMD for construction of the
MARS pumping and transmission facilities. The total
construction costs amount to approximately $65.3 million.
The MARS system has over 40 reclaimed water customers
that use the majority of the reclaimed water produced
by the County’s three regional wastewater treatment
plants. The users include golf courses, residential
developments, and limited agricultural properties.
