Water treatment in Miramar, Florida

Miramar runs its own Utilities Department and its own water quality report says something no other city here says: the water comes from two underground reservoirs, the shallow Biscayne Aquifer and the deep Floridan Aquifer, treated at two plants that work differently. A recommendation that fits Historic Miramar in the east is not automatically right for Sunset Lakes in the west.

Miramar's East and West plants

The Biscayne Aquifer sits roughly 60 to 150 feet below Miramar and is recharged by rainfall and surface water. The Floridan Aquifer is far deeper, around 1,350 feet, and much more confined. Miramar pulls from both.

The East plant treats with nanofiltration. The West plant runs nanofiltration and reverse osmosis. Both remove considerably more dissolved material than the lime softening used elsewhere in Broward, and Miramar's disinfection byproduct numbers come in well under its neighbours: 13.9 ppb haloacetic acids and 29.3 ppb trihalomethanes, against limits of 60 and 80.

Two new Floridan wells, F8 and F9, are being drilled to feed the West plant's reverse osmosis system, each rated at 3.15 million gallons a day against the plant's current output of roughly 11.5 million. The water here is going to keep changing.

Historic Miramar versus the western developments

Historic Miramar in the east has the county's older housing stock, built out decades before the western expansion. Older homes mean older plumbing, and sometimes existing treatment equipment that was installed years ago and never serviced.

The west side, Sunset Lakes, Riviera Isles, Monarch Lakes, is newer, larger, and higher fixture-count. Sizing matters more there because a filter that's fine for a two-bathroom house drops pressure noticeably in a five-bathroom one.

Miramar disinfects with free chlorine

Most Broward utilities disinfect with chloramine, and for those we specify catalytic carbon over ordinary activated carbon. Miramar's report shows free chlorine at 2.14 parts per million instead.

Standard activated carbon handles free chlorine well. So in Miramar catalytic media is harder to justify, and anyone recommending it on the basis of chloramine has not read your city's report.

What we install in Miramar

• Whole-house water filtration Catalytic carbon at the main line, for the chloramine taste at every tap.
• Water softening systems Sized from the hardness measured at your tap, since no utility here reports it.
• Under-sink reverse osmosis Drinking water at the kitchen tap, with PFAS, nitrates and dissolved solids taken out.
• Well water purification Sediment, iron, sulfur, hardness and bacteria, treated in the right order.
• Free water testing A free, no-obligation test at your home, so the recommendation fits your water.