from the FRWA Board and Staff
The FRWA office will be closed on November 25th and 26th in recognition of the Thanksgiving holiday.
In case of emergency, please leave a message and we will contact you as quickly as possible.
2022 FOCUS ON CHANGE DATES ANNOUNCED
The past few years have been a struggle but it is finally looking like we may be returning to a much awaited sense of nomalcy. For over thirty years, the Florida Rural Water Association has coordinated with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to present our annual Focus on Change Seminars. These one day classes are held in different locations throughout the state in an effort to inform the water and wastewater operators of changes in regulations that affect the day to day operations of their systems. The dates and locations for this year's seminars are below.
DATE
February 8, 2022
February 9, 2022
March 16, 2022
March 17, 2022
March 23, 2022
March 24, 2022
CITY
Pompano Beach
Punta Gorda
Haines City
Ocala
Lake City
Fort Walton Beach
LOCATION
Emma Lou Civic Center
Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center
Lake Eva Event Center
Marion County Southeastern Livestock Pavilion
Florida Gateway College
Fort Walton Beach/Destin Convention Center
Please be patient with us, we are still in the planning stages so we do not have an agenda available and registration is not opened. Additional information will be announced in our eNews and at this link it becomes available. As in the past, you will be able to earn 0.6 CEUs for the seminar.
EPA and WaterISAC Joint Advisory Regarding Continued Email Account Compromise Incidents Against U.S. Water and Wastewater Systems
During the past year, the FBI has published multiple notifications highlighting the widespread threat of Business Email Compromise (BEC). Likewise, recent sector reports and responses to WaterISAC’s Quarterly Incident Surveys corroborate that water and wastewater systems of all sizes continue being victimized by impersonation-style attacks such as Business Email Compromise, and specifically Vendor Email Compromise (VEC).

Vendor Email Compromise (VEC), also known as supplier invoicing fraud, is prevalent in the water and wastewater sector. In a Vendor Email Compromise, threat actors assume the identity of a trusted partner in order to steal money by redirecting invoice payments to new accounts controlled by the attacker. In many cases, a VEC involves compromising an email account of a trusted supplier or vendor and then hijacking existing email threads to identify financial transactions. The attacker will then wait for the opportunity to request an account number change for an upcoming invoice payment.

In light of this ongoing threat activity, WaterISAC and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommend that all members and partners of the sector review FBI PIN 20210317-001: Business Email Compromise Actors Targeting State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Governments, Straining Resources and adopt the recommended mitigations. End-user awareness and education of BEC, VEC, other impersonation scams and implementing technical controls such as multifactor authentication (MFA) are some of the most important steps sector organizations can take to curb this threat.

Additional PINs and Resources

WaterISAC Incident Reporting
WaterISAC encourages any members who have experienced malicious or suspicious activity to email analyst@waterisac.org, call 866-H2O-ISAC, or use the online incident reporting form.
NATIONAL NEWS
House Passes “Build Back Better” Bill The bill (H.R. 5376) passed the House on Friday morning by a vote of 220-213. more

EPA Names New Regional Administrators  President Biden is appointing Lisa Garcia for Region 2, Daniel Blackman for Region 4, and KC Becker for Region 8.

Congressional Leaders Concede Another Stopgap Spending Bill 'Likely' as Negotiations Remain at Standstill The current short-term continuing resolution (CR) is set to expire on December 3. Senate Majority Leader Schumer (NY) said last week that it is “likely” another CR will be necessary following weeks of stalled bipartisan negotiations.

EPA and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Section 1441 Emergency Supply Chain Shortage Authority On Thursday, EPA held a webinar explaining their authority, process and experience with water and wastewater utilities’ applications under the SDWA Section 1441 that authorizes the federal government to issue an order to a vendor to provide a water utility with essential chemicals under certain circumstances. more

EPA Responds to NRWA’s Cautionary Comments for Expanding the Scope and Stringency of Disinfection Byproducts Rules (MDBPs) On Thursday, EPA held a webinar explaining their authority, process and experience with water and wastewater utilities’ applications under the SDWA Section 1441 that authorizes the federal government to issue an order to a vendor to provide a water utility with essential chemicals under certain circumstances. more

EPA Finds Adverse PFAS Effects At Lower Levels Than Previously Believed In two recent assessments (PFOA draft external peer review report and a PFOS draft external peer review report) submitted to its Science Advisory Board, EPA has found negative health effects from the two most studied PFAS. more

Infrastructure bill focus shifts to rolling out funds First of the new package’s dollars out the door are expected to be highway, EPA water funds distributed by formulas. more

Biden administration takes step toward reversing Trump water regulations rollback The Biden administration is taking a step towards reversing Trump-era rollbacks to water regulations, proposing a rule to restore the pre-Obama definition that outlines which waters it will seek to protect from pollution. more

STATE NEWS
Bunnell hopes to double wastewater plant capacity | Palm Coast Observer The city of Bunnell is applying for a State Revolving Fund loan to fund the expansion of the city’s wastewater treatment plant. more

JEA and developer reach tentative accord on service for 11,500 home project on Westside | Florida Times Union JEA and a Ponte Vedra-based developer that wants to build an 11,500 home project have reached a tentative agreement on how they could bring water and sewer service to a large area on the far Westside of Jacksonville. more

Annual Deer Point drawdown begins | WJHG Monday is day one of 100 for Bay County Utility Services, the annual Deer Point Reservoir drawdown has begun. more

Gov. Ron DeSantis Appoints New Florida Chief Resilience Officer | CBS Miami Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed Florida’s third chief resilience officer, a position aimed at tackling climate change that has been vacant for months. more

Bad Weather Can Mean Bad News For Miami Water & Sewer | CBS Miami At Taco Chirido, you get an extra splash of rainwater whether you want it or not. more

Port Richey conducts 'smoke testing' to find problem spots in sewer system following I-Team report | ABC Action News Calls for change in Port Richey were heard at City Hall after neighbors, who felt ignored, contacted the I-Team, worried about sewage spilling into the streets, backing up into their bathtubs, and flowing into the nearby Cotee River. more

Florida governor pledges $1 billion to protect against effects of climate change Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced more of his budget priorities for next year including a pledge to dedicate over $1 billion for resiliency efforts in Florida. more

Wilton Simpson to Army Corps: Make sure state has a say in Lake O water allocation | Florida Politics 'It should be clear the schedule being developed is not overly prescriptive in a way that infringes on Florida’s ability to allocate water.' more
This Week in Water History
PFOA Contaminates Drinking Water
November 21, 2006 PFOA Contaminates Drinking Water. “On November 21, 2006, the USEPA ordered DuPont company to offer alternative drinking water or treatment for public or private water users living near DuPont’s Washington Works plant in West Virginia (and in Ohio), if the level of PFOA detected in drinking water is equal to or greater than 0.5 parts per billion. This measure sharply lowered the previous action level of 150 parts per billion that was established in March 2002.[133] Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8 and perfluorooctanoate, is a synthetic, stable perfluorinated carboxylic acid and fluorosurfactant. One industrial application is as a surfactant in the emulsion polymerization of fluoropolymers. It has been used in the manufacture of such prominent consumer goods as Teflon and Gore-Tex. PFOA has been manufactured since the 1940s in industrial quantities. It is also formed by the degradation of precursors such as some fluorotelomers.

PFOA persists indefinitely in the environment. It is a toxicant and carcinogen in animals. PFOA has been detected in the blood of more than 98% of the general US population in the low and sub-parts per billion range, and levels are higher in chemical plant employees and surrounding subpopulations. Exposure has been associated with increased cholesterol and uric acid levels, and recently higher serum levels of PFOA were found to be associated with increased risk of chronic kidney disease in the general United States population, consistent with earlier animal studies. “This association was independent of confounders such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, and serum cholesterol level.”

Commentary and Update: More sensitive analytical methods and widespread monitoring have found PFOA and related compounds in 27 states according to headlines in 2016. But remember, dear reader that this was being publicized by the Environmental Working Group or EWG and must be taken with a huge grain of salt. What does parts per trillion of any chemical really mean?

Further Update: Thirteen years later (2019), PFAS contamination of groundwater has exploded on the national scene, and state regulations are being adopted because of the lack of federal regulation.

To enjoy more opportunities to take a look at the past in water history, go to this link.
FLORIDA RURAL WATER ASSOCIATION | http://www.frwa.net
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