Florida Rural Water Association (FRWA) along with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) have utilized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) WIIN Grant for Lead Testing in Schools and Child Care Programs. From the beginning of the program to now, a total of 35,829 samples have been collected and analyzed by certified laboratories, from over 700 school and childcare facilities across the State of Florida. 

A recent report came out that insinuated Florida has not been diligent in sampling, remediating concerns, and not prioritizing children’s health. (Click here to review the complete article.) Nothing could be further from the truth- As we are nearing $2 million dollars that has been spent on Lead in Schools sampling alone. Our goal in Florida is to continue to promote this program so that every school and childcare in the state is tested and children are drinking high quality water without lead.

Out of 35,829 samples analyzed, 590 samples resulted in elevated results that required action for remediation.

***What this means to parents and the public*** 

• 98.4% of samples analyzed were below the action level for remediation. 
• All 590 exceedances have been either completely remediated or removed from service and are no longer accessible by students and faculty. 

In a few short months, the Lead in Schools Program will be turned over to the water utilities to continue the sampling program to ensure they maintain healthy drinking water standards for the school and childcare facilities.

Water utilities will maintain the sampling process by sampling 20% of school and childcare facilities, in their service area, for 5 years. The schools will be sampled starting with elementary, then middle schools, and lastly high schools, over the 5 years to cover all the schools. This process will be repeated every 5 years. 

Once the utilities take over, the minimum sampling requirements are as follows: 

• For childcares: 1 drinking water location, 1 classroom or 1 kitchen sink. 
• For schools: 2 drinking water fountains, 1 kitchen faucet, 1 classroom faucet, and 1 nurse station.

FRWA has received positive feedback from each school board that has completed the testing including from Lake County School Board: “The Lake County School Board is very glad to participate in the Lead in Schools program, we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to protect our children. We would also like to thank the FRWA with their assistance for ensuring this program runs as smooth as possible. Thank you.” Billy Fischer, Lead Water Treatment Plant Operator, Lake County School District. 

FRWA and FDEP continue to sample schools and childcares across the state to ensure our youth have access to safe drinking water while attending educational institutions. 

Once the child care or school board gives us the approval, the process goes as follows: 

• We coordinate with a certified lab and sampler that the school often requests. 
• Samples are taken at child cares and any schools in the state of Florida. (Examples of fixtures: water fountains, classroom faucets, kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets) 
• Under the current Lead in Schools program, through FDEP, there is no minimum or maximum amount of sample locations, but the locations do have to be where children have access to water. 
• The sampler is usually escorted by a school employee and testing is conducted before school starts in the morning. 
• The result of the testing is then shared with FDEP and posted on FDEPs website. 
• If there is ever an exceedance, the lab notifies FRWA within the final report, and the school will bag the fixture, replace and/or repair. 
• The fixture is resampled to confirm there is no longer an exceedance prior to return to service.

Watch your mailbox for your copy of the Florida Rural Water Association's 2024/2025 Membership Directory. In the meantime, you can browse through the new issue electronically by clicking on the image below.

Thank you for your support of FRWA as we continue to strive to bring you the most up to date information that the industry has to offer.

NATIONAL NEWS

Connections: Facts Versus Fear Mongering An August 31st New York Times headline in the online edition would have been more accurate if it read, “Your feces are poisoning wastewater plants across the U.S.” Part I more

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $7.3 Billion in Clean Energy Investments from the Investing in America Agenda, Largest Investment in Rural Electrification Since the New Deal President Joe Biden and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce more than $7.3 billion in financing for rural electric cooperatives to build clean energy for rural communities across the country through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program. more

Russian Military Cyber Actors Targeting U.S. and Global Critical Infrastructure Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Security Agency published joint Cybersecurity Advisory, Russian Military Cyber Actors Targeting U.S. and Global Critical Infrastructure. This advisory provides organizations with technical details to understand, detect, and mitigate this malicious activity. Recommended actions include prioritizing routine system updates and remediating known exploited vulnerabilities; segmenting networks to prevent the spread of malicious activity; and enabling phishing-resistant multifactor authentication for all externally-facing account services. Critical infrastructure organizations are encouraged to review the TTPs and Indicators of Compromise, as well as apply the recommended mitigations in this joint advisory. more

Plucking Water From The Air A new solar-powered system efficiently extracts moisture from the air, offering a sustainable solution for irrigation. more

Consumers Trust Water Utilities, Scientists Most For Information About Tap Water Consumers place the most trust in water utilities and scientists to provide them with information about their tap water compared to other entities, according to a survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the American Water Works Association (AWWA). more

Mizzou Scientists Achieve More Than 98% Efficiency Removing Nanoplastics From Water The liquid-based solution uses a solvent to trap the plastic particles, leaving clean water behind. more

New Study Documents Growing Dangers Of Climate Change And Emerging Opportunities For Building Resilience In Rural Communities Across The US Collaborative research from the Pacific Institute, LiKEN, and RCAP Proposes Community-Centered, Scalable Model to Build Equitable, Resilient Rural Water Systems in Communities with Legacies of Injustice. more

America's Communities At A CROSSROADS: New Survey Reveals Mix Of Optimism And Pessimism About The Future Needs Of America's Infrastructure GHD, a global professional services company operating in the markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation, released CROSSROADS, a comprehensive report that explores perspectives on intergenerational equity and its pivotal role in shaping future communities. more

White House Releases New Research Strategy to Protect Communities from PFAS | OSTP President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that every person and community should have access to safe products, clean drinking water and a healthy environment, free of toxicants and pollutants that harm public health and well-being. more

SANS Module 5: Risk-Based ICS Vulnerability Management | September 17, 2024 | 2:00 pm CT This is Module 5 of the SANS Five ICS Cybersecurity Critical Controls: Water Sector webinar series. The final Module of the cybersecurity series on ICS Critical Controls for the Water Sector focuses on understanding and managing risk. more

How to Leverage Payments to Improve Water Customer Experience | September 26, 2024 | 2:00 pm CT In this fast-paced digital era, the expectations of consumers—including water customers—are evolving at an unprecedented rate. more

EPA awards $1.5M for PFAS detection research | News, Sports, Jobs - Adirondack Daily Enterprise Clarkson University has received a grant worth nearly $1.5 million from the Environmental Protection Agency for research to develop and demonstrate nanosensor technology that has the potential to detect, monitor and degrade PFAS in groundwater or surface water that may be used as drinking water sources. more

EPA's new power plant rules raise questions about feasibility - WTAP  New standards for power plant emissions announced by the Environmental Protection Agency have been a source of disagreement between the agency and the states and industries it regulates since they were introduced in April. more

Biden EPA rejects plastics industry's fuzzy math that misleads customers about recycled content The Environmental Protection Agency has taken the first ever federal action against a system that misleads consumers about the recycled content in plastic products. more

EPA Announces Partnership with City of Dowagiac to Accelerate Replacement of Lead ...  Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Dowagiac is joining communities across the country who are accelerating replacement of lead service lines. more

STATE NEWS

Polk County faces septic waste crisis as processing facility shuts down - ABC Action News  Polk County is facing a septic waste crisis. About 300,000 homes and businesses use septic tanks. more

Grease blockage causes wastewater overflow on Levene Road: MAWSS | WKRG.com The MAWSS news release said 136 gallons of wastewater overflowed into the bayou and their officials responded. more

Water quality issues continue | Anna Maria Islander Health department tests completed Aug. 19 and Aug. 21 indicated water quality at the Palma Sola South Causeway did not meet recreational water quality criteria for Enterococcus bacteria. more

LCRR Compliance: Don't forget about the Notices to LSL, GRR, and Unknown Customers | September 16, 2024 | 2:00 pm CT Many water systems have been focused on preparing for the October 16th, 2024 deadline to submit their service live inventory. In addition to the inventory, notices must be delivered to customers served by a lead, GRR, or unknown service line within 30 days of submitting the inventory (no later than November 15). more

How to Prepare Your Wastewater Utility for Disasters: Floods and Cybersecurity | September 19, 2024 l 12 p.m. CT Join EPA for a free webinar on how to prepare your wastewater utility for disasters! more

Florida Keys highway blocked after sewer line break. Labor Day traffic at standstill - Yahoo Labor Day traffic in the Florida Keys came to a halt Monday afternoon because of a busted sewer line underneath U.S. 1, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. more

JEA eyeing possible takeover of Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach wastewater operations Utility customers in Atlantic and Neptune beaches could one day write their checks to a new utility provider for their wastewater services. more

City of Tampa works on new stormwater improvement projects | ABC Action News  The City of Tampa is working to alleviate flooding in parts of South Tampa. There's been a lot of water build up during rainstorms, and now they are working on some new projects to help. more

September 6, 1893: The Houston Daily Post ran a series of investigative articles about the Water Works Company and the pollution in Buffalo Bayou–an early surface water supply for the City of Houston, Texas. In a September 6, 1893 article, Houston Cotton Exchange officials charged that the bayou was “an immense cesspool, reeking with filth and emitting a stench of vilest character.” The newspaper noted in 1895 that a dozen privies, a smallpox graveyard, a dead cow, oil mill, and cattle yards had been sighted in the waters above the Water Works’ dam. In another article later that year, reporters wrote that cattle from the Southern Oil Mill stockyards were discovered wading in the bayou alongside decomposing cow carcasses. A drain from the mill ran directly into the bayou creating additional unsanitary conditions. “It is our opinion that the use of this water is a menace to the lives of the people of this community,” avowed the investigative reporters.

Update: With the devastation of the Houston by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, it is astonishing that water service in Houston was never lost, nor was a boil water order ever issued. Houston OBVIOUSLY made a lot of improvements in their water supply over 124 years.

FLORIDA RURAL WATER ASSOCIATION http://www.frwa.net

2970 Wellington Circle | Tallahassee FL 32309

850.668.2746 | Contact Us