Latest news with #PeteNardi
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blue pipes on 278 in Hilton Head? Here's what's happening at the site near Crazy Crab
As drivers come on and off the U.S. 278 bridge that connects Hilton Head to the mainland, they might wonder what the yellow-vested men at a construction site near the Crazy Crab are doing with bulldozers, excavators, and stacks of huge blue pipes. Is the island getting a head start on the expensive waterline relocation needed before the town can finally build that new bridge? No, the answer is a bit more boring. The underground holes bored into the island for this particular project are part of an effort to expand Hilton Head's water supply, keeping Hilton Head residents' water bills from skyrocketing as demand for water increases and saltwater intrudes into the island's freshwater supply. 'Boring isn't so boring,' said Hilton Head Public Service District's General Manager, Pete Nardi. Workers are almost done installing about 1,100 feet of bright blue pipe that will pump brackish water from deep-water well 600 feet underground to a reverse osmosis treatment plant on Jenkins Island. It's part of a project will add 2 million gallons of water per day to Hilton Head's water supply. The plant's current capacity is 4 million gallons per day, and it's currently connected to three other deep-water wells that help the town meet high demand during the summer months and store excess water during the winter months. The 12-inch wide pipes arrived onsite about a month ago. To lay them underground, workers use a machine called an auger to bore a long tunnel underground where the pipes will go. A steel casing is installed to support the tunnel and the long blue pipes are pulled through the casing. The new pipeline will connect to an existing well on Jenkins Island. Workers will finish installing the pipes by early June, but the well project likely won't be completed until next year, Nardi said. Some additional work is needed at the plant, which was built in 2009, to increase its capacity. As the island's freshwater supply dwindles, more water supply is sorely needed to meet high demand during the summer months while storing excess water in case of natural disasters. Hilton Head used to pull more freshwater straight from the ground, from layers of limestone 150 feet beneath the surface. In the last 25 years, saltwater from the ocean has slowly seeped into the island's freshwater supply, contaminating 10 of the island's 14 freshwater wells. That's why Hilton Head needs to instead rely on brackish water from 600 feet underground. The water is slightly salty, but reverse osmosis can convert it into drinkable water. The same process is used to purify bottled water for popular brands like Dasani and Aquafina. Some of that treated water gets injected back into the ground to be piped back up later, like in the summer months, when demand can peak to over 11 million gallons of water per day. Those layers of limestone deep beneath the surface can act as a bubble that stores 'astronomically' large amounts of water while keeping it fresh. 'It's a huge underground storage that you cannot build above ground,' Nardi said. Over 250 million gallons of water can be stored in the Hilton Head Public Service District's single underground storage well, and the district is building another. The project will help reduce the island's reliance on expensive water from the mainland. A thick pipeline buried deep underneath the creek beds alongside the U.S. 278 bridge can supply up to 6 million gallons of water per day to the island, at a cost of over $3.30 per one thousand gallons, Nardi said. Producing water through reverse osmosis will cost between $1 and $1.20 per one thousand gallons. It's a matter of 'economics,' Nardi said. 'Plus it's really a high quality tap water.' Between 40 to 60 percent of Hilton Head's drinking water goes towards 'residential irrigation,' according to Nardi. In other words, roughly half Hilton Head's clean water supply goes towards keeping grass green. To cut down on water demand, town ordinances limit the number of times residents are only allowed to water their yards to twice a week. Sprinkler systems must be connected to a rain sensor, so that valuable drinking water wasted on a rainy day. Planting native plants in your yard, rather than grass, can reduce the strain on Hilton Head's water supply — while saving you money on your water bill. Many golf courses on Hilton Head use recycled wastewater instead of fresh drinking water, reducing the strain on the island's water supply. Hilton Head PSD also pumps recycled water into wetlands to help maintain their size and depth. The water upgrades alone won't lower Hilton Head residents' water bills. But it does mean that more of the water that flows through the taps in the future will come from the island, rather than being at the mercy of an off-island agency. 'It's going to prevent (your water bill) from so reliant, or potentially being reliant, on more expensive drinking water,' Nardi said.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hilton Head Island PSD joining with Town to expand water production
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC (WSAV) – The Town of Hilton Head and Hilton Head Public Service District (PSD) broke ground on a new reverse osmosis drinking water well. The well is at the former Hilton Head Island Welcome Center site. It will be drilled approximately 600 feet deep into the brackish Middle Floridan Aquifer. It will increase the capacity of the treatment capacity in its Reverse Osmosis (RO) Drinking Water Treatment Facility on Jenkins Island facility from 4 million to 6 million gallons a day. The PSD's RO plant has been in service since 2009. The project is necessary to ensure the island's long-term water supply in the face of ongoing saltwater intrusion into the shallower Upper Floridan Aquifer, which had been the island's traditional source of drinking water. The PSD has lost 10 of its 14 wells into the Upper Floridan Aquifer to saltwater intrusion since 2000. Officials say this project is key to ensuring the island's long-term water supply. 'The crucial thing is this is Hilton Head relying on its own groundwater for its water future,' said Pete Nardi, the Genenal Manager of Hilton Head PSD. 'So it's our highest quality groundwater. It's our highest quality drinking water that we can have because we're treating it in that reverse osmosis plant, which is a leading technology for treating public drinking water supply.' The project is being funded in part by a $10-million grant from the South Carolina Infrastructure Improvement Program. It also includes constructing a second Aquifer Storage & Recovery (ASR) well for the PSD. ASR is a supply technique that allows more than 250 million gallons of treated drinking water to be stored in the Middle Floridan Aquifer during winter months of low demand and then withdrawn and retreated for distribution during the spring and summer months of higher demand. It is a key asset to help speed recovery from natural disasters such as hurricanes. The ASR well will be constructed on the Ashmore Tract. Both the new drinking water well for the RO plant and the ASR well are being constructed on land provided by the Town of Hilton Head Island. The project also includes constructing pipelines to convey the water from the wells into the PSD's water distribution system. 'It is making certain that we have the right assets in place,' said Hilton Head Island Mayor Alan Perry. 'Whether it's this one where we're pumping water from or if it's another one, we're putting water into it so that we can pull from it later. It's about understanding what the cycle is.' Drivers are asked to use caution in the vicinity of the construction due to construction vehicles entering and exiting the site. The work is anticipated to conclude by Fall 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pipeline causes roadblock for 278 corridor project
BEAUFORT, S.C. (WSAV) — Beaufort County and the Town of Hilton Head Island are close to an agreement on the 278 Corridor project, but another issue lurks below the surface. 'We're joint owners of this 24 inch drinking water transmission pipeline, it's buried under the Intracoastal Waterway, buried under Mackey Creek,' said Pete Nardi, General Manager of Hilton Head Island Public Service District (PSD). The PSD provides about 20% of the drinking water to its more than 2,200 customers on the island. The pipeline that runs parallel to the 278 bridge is only 20 years into its 99 year life span. Now, that pipeline has to be moved to make way for the new 278 corridor. 'We've got preliminary estimates that the pipeline relocation alone could be in the neighborhood of 15 to $20 million,' said Nardi. Nardi is talking about the project budget the Town and beaufort county has set aside. The State Utility Relocation Act provides for four and a half percent of the money in the project budget must be set aside for 'utility updates or movement' for the pipeline. But when the recent Beaufort County penny sales tax referendum didn't pass, the project costs got cutback. So the four and a half percent is no longer enough to pay for the pipeline relocation and does not include 'soft costs' like right of way and environmental mitigation The utility says it doesn't want that cost to fall back on its customers. 'It's so critical that our funds that that are that our bills pay for to keep the system up and running and to go really toward water distribution, water treatment, producing water,' explains Nardi. 'and then it shouldn't have to be impacted by something like a transportation project ' Beaufort County has already pledged $6.5 million toward the pipeline and Nardi says the Town of HIlton Head Island has been responsive to the problem. PSD board members say all parties must come up with better solutions than raising customer's water bill. 'We don't want to have to see our ratepayers bear a burden for a transportation project,' says Jerry Cutrer, Hilton Head PSD vice chairman. 'Our customer base makes up about 60% of the island's population. The bridge project would support 100% of the population.' To complicate the issue, the pipeline project has to be finished before the bridge project starts. To make sure no one's water supply is cut off. Hilton Head PSD can't start the engineering or even determine exactly where the pipeline could move until the bridge engineering project is approved and finalized. At a recent meeting, Hilton Head Island Marc Orlando said he is drafting edits for the joint resolution to address concerns connected to funding the PSD's portion of the project. The Town and County must come up with their final plan by March 20. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
