2021 FRWA Annual Conference |
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August 9-11, 2021
Hilton Daytona Beach
100 N Atlantic Ave
Daytona Beach FL 32118
Yes, we are still having the 2021 FRWA Annual Conference! We have a sold out Exhibit Hall and our attendance is in line with the attendance of past years. We would like to thank those of you showing your support of the Florida Rural Water Association.
In order to protect our attendees, FRWA and the Daytona Beach Hilton are closely following the CDC guidelines. In case you are unable to attend, per the FRWA Board of Directors, a 50% refund will be issued until 12:00 noon on Friday, August 6, 2021. After noon on Friday, August 6, 2021 no refunds will be issued.
From the tee off at the Paul Brayton Golf Tournament to the last piece of FRWA equipment is loaded, you are in for three days that you will never forget! With over sixty topics to choose from, something is sure to spark your interest! Stroll around our Exhibit Hall to catch up on the latest the industry has to offer as you meet old friends and make new ones. As always there will be plenty of food to go around! Who knows maybe you will win the grand prize in this year's Raffle or take home a door prize when Ben spins the wheel! You can even have a chance for water to be named the "Best Tasting Water in Florida" (Don't forget to bring your sample by the Registration Desk!)
We had troubles a plenty in 2020, let's have some fun in 2021! The list of opportunities is endless, you can check out more below.
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Don't forget to Support our Sponsors |
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Sophia Oberton Testifies on Behalf of Rural Water Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works |
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Sophia Oberton, an operator from the Town of Delmar, located on the Delaware and Maryland border, testified with other water experts before the Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works on Wednesday, July 21, 2021.
Oberton began her testimony thanking Senators Carper and Cardin, stating, “I want to personally thank Senator Carper and Cardin for being such good friends and supporters of rural Delaware, Maryland, and rural USA. The rural and small-town provisions in your recent legislation, The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021, are very much appreciated. And Senator Carper, you made us so proud when you chose to announce the legislation at Delaware Rural Water Association headquarters in Milford in April.”
Oberton provided compelling testimony on the unique characteristics of small and rural public water utilities.
“Small communities only operate to serve the public’s interests. We are owned and governed by our local citizens through the elected local governments. We only exist to serve the public and are eager to take all feasible and necessary actions to protect the cybersecurity of our public drinking water supplies,” testified Oberton.
Oberton went on to discuss the size and limitations most U.S. water systems face, and that protecting the cybersecurity of the drinking water systems in small communities is just as important as protecting them in large communities.
Rural Water is proud of the testimony Sophia Oberton provided to the Committee last week. She represented the interests and needs of Rural America with perfection. NRWA believes that any federal government policy for water cybersecurity must treat small and large communities very differently while recognizing the fundamental differences in the complexity of the water systems, financial resources, and technical capability. To view Sophia Oberton’s testimony, please click here.
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LIHWAP Draft State Plan Federal Fiscal
Year 2022 Public Comment Period
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The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) is pleased to announce the availability of the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2022 Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) Draft State Plan for public comment to which all persons are invited. DEO has completed the draft of the State Plan for public comment prior to filing the State Plan with the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
DEO has been provided approximately $75 million in two separate pieces of federal legislation to assist low-income households with water and wastewater bills. The first part of this funding was provided as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and the second was part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
LIHWAP will provide much-needed relief to low-income families that spend a high proportion of their household income on water utility services. Assistance to households will be accomplished by providing funds to owners or operators of public water systems or treatment works to reduce arrearages of and rates charged to households for services. LIHWAP’s main goal is to retain continuity of water services to low-income households in Florida with an emphasis on prevention of disconnection and restoration of water services to households whose water services were previously disconnected.
Public Comment Period
The Draft LIHWAP State Plan is available for public review and comment prior to submission of the plan to HHS. The 4-day comment period is Monday, August 2 through Thursday, August 5, 2021. The draft of the LIHWAP State Plan is posted on DEO’s website.
Written comments on the FFY 2022 LIHWAP Draft State Plan are encouraged and may be emailed to LIHWAP@DEO.MyFlorida.com or mailed to: Bureau of Economic Self-Sufficiency, Division of Community Development, Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, 107 East Madison Street, MSC-400, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-4120.
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FLORIDA RURAL WATER ASSOCIATION
2970 Wellington Circle
Tallahassee FL 32309
850.668.2746
08.09-11.21
08.25.21
09.22-29.21
10.12-.15.21
10.18-.21.21
11.02-03.21
12.07-08.21
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NATIONAL NEWS
How To Address Water Affordability And Equity With Asset Management Water Affordability and Equity issues have been around for many years, if not decades. Lead service lines were state-of-the-art water engineering in the 1920’s, yet 95 years later the relationship of public health and public infrastructure catapulted to the top with the Flint, MI crisis in disadvantaged communities. more
EPA, USACE to begin gathering input on WOTUS definition The Biden administration has reiterated its pledge to get input from a wide variety of stakeholders, including the agricultural industry, on how it plans to define “waters of the U.S.” in the Clean Water Act as it announced a series of upcoming “community engagements.” more
Flushable wipes to blame for clogs, Ala. utilities say More than 10,000 gallons of raw sewage rushed into Daphne’s Rock Creek on April 9, 2020, prompting the environmental watchdog group Mobile Baykeeper to issue a news release assigning the blame to “flushable wipes.” more
Class-based approach is best for regulating PFAS A high-stakes debate is raging over a broad class of toxic chemicals that contaminate drinking water consumed by tens of millions of people. These chemicals — called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (or PFAS) — can be found in the blood of nearly all Americans. more
Senators introduce $1T infrastructure bill Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sought to speed up consideration of a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package Monday, promising that Democrats would work with Republicans to put together amendments for consideration this week. GOP senators cautioned that they need time to digest the massive bill. more
Pew offers states a range of flood resilience services Strategic initiative works with partners to mitigate risk and improve outcomes for communities, economies. more
Thank you, Senator Wicker (Mississippi) The Senator supported a provision that was included in the infrastructure bill intended to direct EPA to use technical assistance funding for rural water on-site technical assistance. more
Many House Democrats Say They Will Oppose the Senate’s Instructure Bill Without a Guarantee of More Spending Moderate House Democrats held a press conference Friday calling for a speedy vote in the House. But progressives are insisting that they won't support it until the Senate passes a separate multi trillion-dollar bill to advance Biden's other priorities. more
Thieves in California are Stealing Scarce Water Amid Extreme Drought As an extreme drought grips California, making water increasingly scarce, thieves are making off with billions of gallons of the precious resource, tapping into fire hydrants, rivers, and even small family homes and farms. more
White House Released National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Systems Protection of our Nation’s critical infrastructure is a responsibility of the government at the Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial levels and of the owners and operators of that infrastructure. more
House Passes FY22 Appropriations for EPA Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a fiscal year 2022 appropriations “minibus” bill (HR 4502) in a 219-208, party-line vote. more
$1 Trillion Infrastructure Deal Scales Senate Hurdle With Bipartisan Vote The vote was a breakthrough after weeks of wrangling among White House officials and senators in both parties, clearing the way for action on a top priority for President Biden. more
Biden-Harris administration invests $307M in rural water, wastewater infrastructure improvements - The Highland County Press Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $307 million to modernize rural drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in 34 states and Puerto Rico. more
STATE NEWS
Meet Terrence Moore, new city manager in Delray Beach | WPTV Former city manager in Georgia hopes to stick around in role that has been revolving door since 2013. more
Boil water notice lifted for Lynn Haven residents | My Panhandle Lynn Haven city officials announced Tuesday morning the water is safe to drink and residents no longer have to boil their water. more
Vern Buchanan says existing water quality rules need to be enforced, not pass more regulations | Herald Tribune U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan said Monday following a roundtable discussion on red tide that more must be done to keep nutrients that feed harmful algae blooms out of waterways, but he favors stricter enforcement of existing rules over new regulations. more
F lorida river gets curves back in 22-year, $980m restoration | Associated Press The 22-year project to restore Florida’s Kissimmee River from a straight manmade channel to its natural meandering state has marked a major milestone. more
What is the proposed Right to Clean Water ballot amendment? | WJCT The proposed right to clean water ballot amendment intends to prohibit pollution of Florida’s water, by recognizing Floridians have a right to clean water, and that water itself has a right to be free from pollution. more
St. Johns County reports 18,000-gallon sewage spill in St. Augustine Shores | St. Augustine Record A blocked sewer line caused about an 18,000-gallon sewage spill in St. Augustine Shores over the weekend, St. Johns County Utilities Director Colin Groff said. more
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This Week in Water History |
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August 2, 1911: Municipal Journal article. Water Waste in Washington, DC. “The matter of detecting and closing underground leaks in the distribution system is one that the water department of Washington has been working on systematically and rather extensively since 1906.
At that time the rapid increase in both mean consumption and per capita rates made it quite evident that unless radical measures were taken the city would soon be face to face with at least a partial water famine; the increasing danger had been recognized for years, but shortage of funds and the failure of Congress to authorize the general installation of meters had prevented taking up the work on an effective scale.
The per capita rate, based on the entire population, was 169 in 1896 and 217 in 1906, while the mean daily rates for the two years were 44,500,000 and 67,500,000 respectively. During a short period of unusual cold in the winter of 1904-5 the consumption exceeded the capacity of the conduit supplying the city, and the local reservoirs were drawn down close to the danger line. Before the trouble reached the consumer the weather moderated, and conditions again became normal. more
To enjoy more opportunities to take a look at the past in water history, go to this link.
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2970 Wellington Circle | Tallahassee FL 32309 | 850.668.8023 | Contact Us
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