Florida Rural Water Association
2970 Wellington Circle
Tallahassee FL 32309
850.668.2746
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Looking Back..
Going Forward
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This year has presented many new opportunities to serve our membership. The COVID-19 crisis created many issues for systems that we could have never imagined. Systems throughout the country were affected by this unique crisis, unlike anything we have witnessed in the past. We were forced to come up with innovative ways to help keep systems operational. Our fleet of generators were put to uses that we could never fathomed, as they were taken to hospitals in Georgia. For more details on our coronavirus efforts, check out our website at https://www.frwa.net/news/covid-19-update.
FRWA ordered 8,000 KN95 masks and resold them to systems at cost each mask included a fiber mask to protect it. EPA and FEMA donated cloth mask to protect the essential workers. FRWA coordinated with nine other locations to provide distribution sites throughout the state.
Although, the memory of the last few months is still prominent in our minds, there were many milestones in FRWA history during the past year. The 2020 Focus on Change was added to the FRWA legacy of presenting informative and successful training sessions to the industry professionals throughout the state. This year was celebrated as the thirtieth anniversary of the partnership between FRWA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection hosting over 1500 attendees at six different locations.
FRWA enhanced our emergency response resources with the purchase of a semi with a mounted crane and an equipment trailer to be used to deliver equipment to systems in need. FRWA also acquired a number of additional generators to allow us to better meet the needs of our membership during an emergency. more
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Record Chicago Rainfall Forces Wastewater District to Reverse the Flow of the Chicago River into Lake Michigan Two days of rain overwhelmed Chicago's underground labyrinth of sewers Friday, forcing a noxious mix of sewage and stormwater into local waterways and Lake Michigan. more
State and Local Governments Are Plunging Into Crisis (The Atlantic) State and local governments are being hit hard by the pandemic, and the consequences could be dangerous for democracy. more
Civic Leadership Urgently needed To Support 1.5 Million Nonprofits From Collapse (Forbes) In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit sector is at risk of catastrophic damage to business operations caused by evaporating revenue...more
Cash-crunched Cities Want States to Give Them a Larger Slice of Congressional Aid (CNN) Facing severe budget crunches of their own, cities want states to give them a larger slice of the coronavirus relief aid approved by Congress in late March. more
Cities and Towns Face Financial Peril as Pandemic Drags (Washington Post) Across the U.S., cities, towns and villages are facing a new coronavirus problem. It's an unfolding financial crisis, brought on by evaporating tax revenue from things like meals and shopping. more
New Hampshire Rural Water Tells Governor That Water Utilities are Facing Dangerous Revenue Losses and are Excluded from State Aid to Local Governments On behalf of Granite State Rural Water Association, a trade association for NH's public water and wastewater utilities, I respectfully request that New Hampshire's 90 plus precincts and village districts that are independent, autonomous governmental units, separate from municipal governments be recognized in the State's efforts to mitigate the impacts of the Coronavirus. more
Deadline for Comments on EPA's Proposal to Regulate PFAS is June 10 On February 20, 2020, the EPA announced and requested public comment on the preliminary regulatory determinations for eight contaminants on the fourth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 4). more
EPA Decision to Not Regulate Perchlorate Would Save Water Utilities $10.2 Annually The Trump administration will not impose any limits on perchlorate, a toxic chemical compound that contaminates water and has been linked to fetal and infant brain damage, according to two Environmental Protection Agency staff members familiar with the decision. more |
A third named storm could form out at sea before hurricane season officially starts Hurricane season officially starts June 1, but a third named storm could potentially form in the Atlantic even before that. more
Miami-Dade adopts wastewater epidemiology to help fight coronavirus | Local 10 Innovative early lab tests, research and discussions around the world about using a community's sewage to help track the contagion during the coronavirus pandemic have progressed into a new surveillance system in Miami-Dade County. more
Rain this week could reduce Bay County drought | Panama City News Herald Rainy weather expected the rest of the week could help reduce the drought keeping Bay County under greater risk of wildfires. more
Opinion: All South Floridians should be concerned about Lake Okeechobee water levels | Sun Sentinel There has recently been a great deal of public debate regarding the management of Lake Okeechobee's water levels and the corresponding effect on natural systems and water supplies in South Florida. more
Orlando police assist OUC with large water main break near I-4 | WFTV Orlando police said they assisted the Orlando Utilities Commission with a large water main break. more
Volusia gets $2.5M grant to improve DeLeon Springs water with pipeline project | Daytona Beach News-Journal An agreement between Volusia County and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection means a grant worth $2.5 million for a pipeline project that will improve water quality in DeLeon Springs community. more
Navarre Beach Utility suspends late fees, service cutoffs | Navarre Press Following the example of several water utilities in the region, Santa Rosa County Commissioners approved suspending late fees and cutoffs for Navarre Beach Utility customers impacted by COVID-19. more
Electrical equipment improvements to improve reliability of Naples water plant | Naples Daily News The city of Naples water treatment plant is getting significant electrical equipment improvements that could help the plant perform better during storms and power outages. more
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This Week in Water History
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First Municipal Water Pumping Plant
May 27, 1755
Hans Christopher Christiansen installed the first municipal water pumping plant in America at Bethlehem, PA; city supplied from a 70 foot high tank that was filled with water pumped from a spring through wooden pipes.
"Begun in 1754 and enlarged in 1762, the Bethlehem Waterworks is thought to be the first municipal pumping system to provide drinking and washing water in the United States. Johann Christopher Christensen devised the system in 1754 to transfer spring water from the Monocray Creek flood plain to the Moravian settlement on the bluff above it. Six years later, Christensen enlarged the waterworks and installed it in a 24-foot-square limestone rubble structure with a red-tile covered hipped-bellcast-gable roof. The system's 18-foot undershot waterwheel powered three single acting cast-iron pumps which forced spring water through wood (later lead) pipes 320 feet (94 vertical feet) by a collecting tower, and from there water flowed by gravity to strategically placed cisterns throughout the community. Machines to raise water had been in use in Europe for centuries, but until the construction of the Bethlehem Waterworks, none had been erected in the American Colonies.
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