How We Got Here by Mike Smith Sewage Treatment Plant in the early 1980’s. Back in 1980 a lot of things were happening at the Ocean Reef Club. Russ Post became President and at the same time an agreement was struck in which Carl Lindner through American Financial Company would acquire the Club. Prior to this, the Club had constructed a reverse osmosis water production facility and a state of the art sewage treatment plant near the airport. One bright sunny day, representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency came to the front gate asking for access to the sewage treatment and osmosis plants. Accompanying the EPA agents was an ex-employee who used to work at the Club and helped construct the two plants. Knowing exactly where to go they dug into the earth near the sewage treatment plant and found a valve that when opened dumped untreated sewage into the brine line of the R-O plant (the brine line was used to pipe the high salinity water that was a by-product of osmosis back into the ocean). The EPA had been created in the early 1970’s and possibly needed a big case and they believed the valve was illegal and … Continue reading How We Got Here pt. 8