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online to supply 10 million gallons per day to the city's burgeoning population. To guarantee the city's freshwater future cost $3.75 million. Verna ensured the city would retain control of its freshwater supply. This was in marked contrast to Sarasota County, which has reeled from one scheme to another over the decades to maintain freshwater sources. To provide a further guarantee of ongoing supply, Thompson also oversaw the instal- lation of a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis water treatment system, using salty water from coastal wells. With very high pressure and permeable membranes to eliminate the salt, the "RO Plant" now contributes about half the city's fresh water. But it comes with two costs. The reverse osmosis process is energy-in- tensive: For every gallon of fresh water, it produces a quart of very salty water ("brine") that is corrosive and must go somewhere. For now, that "somewhere" is a discharge into Hog Creek and eventually Sarasota Bay. EVER DECREASING IMPACT The city's utility users pay significantly less than those in other Florida coastal commu- nities, in part because Sarasota has kept "ahead of the curve." The deep-well injection disposal of brine from the RO plant will elim- inate the need for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection "consent order" the city currently requires for the Hog Creek discharge. A recently approved City of Sarasota project should lead to a cleaner Sarasota Bay. Photo by Norman Schimmel Sarasota News Leader February 7, 2014 Page 52