FRWA eNews/September 1, 2023

September 1, 2023

FRWA IN EMERGENCY RESPONSE MODE

Hurricane Idalia has come and gone, leaving havoc in its path. The storm hit the Tallahassee area at about 8:00 am on Wednesday, August 30th. Always thinking ahead, FRWA is equipped with a generator that automatically furnishes us power in case of outages.

FRWA was preparing for the onset of Idalia days before it hit land. Click on the video below to watch FRWA employees braving the 100 degree heat to load generators to be ready to respond as soon as the "coast was clear." I personally have been with FRWA for almost thirty years and this video made me proud to be a "Rural Waterian." I am so impressed by the expertise it takes to just load one generator for deployment.

This is just the beginning of the relief efforts with our crews already delivering help to systems in need. For now, I feel that the staff deserves a "21 hydrant salute" for their efforts in the upcoming weeks.

More to come in next issues of eNews.

FRWA Emergency Response Prep Hurricane Idalia

The FRWA Office will be closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 4.

If you have an emergency, please leave a message and we will respond as soon as possible.

Tracking COVID through Wastewater

Just when we thought COVID was over, we have yet a new spike in the latest SARS-CoV-2 strain. Yours truly had not had COVID at all until last month, so it can strike anyone, any time. The CDC is encouraging wastewater-based disease surveillance as a developing science. Testing methods include sample processing steps, use of laboratory controls, and implementation of biosafety measures to ensure that data can be interpreted for public health use. For more information, click here.

Please see some information below that you can use to explain the science to your customers:

Articles of Interest

NATIONAL NEWS

Tropical Update 08.31.23 Heavy rainfall from Hurricane Idalia has resulted in a riverine response along several Florida Gulf Coast waterway. Minor flooding is forecast, and River Flood Warnings remain in effect for the St. Marks River near Newport, Aucilla River near Lamont, Horse Creek near Arcadia, and the Manatee River near Myakka Head. more

PFAS Settlement Steering Committee Releases Allocation Estimates for Largest Drinking Water Settlement in History $13.6B settlements with 3M and DuPont entities now have an accompanying estimated allocation range table for each settling defendant. more

USDA Investing Over $800M to Strengthen Rural Infrastructure, Create Jobs Investment includes $78 million for lead pipe remediation, furthering the Biden-Harris Administration's Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan. more

Key Cybersecurity Considerations For Water Utilities A survey of more than 20,000 utility employees revealed that cyber threats are what they fear could have the biggest impact on operations, with a lack of ... more

To Conform With Recent Supreme Court Decision, EPA And Army Amend “Waters of the United States” Rule The agencies are committed to following the law and implementing the Clean Water Act to deliver the essential protections that safeguard the nation’s waters from pollution and degradation. more

The EPA removes federal protections for most of the country’s wetlands | WUFT The amended EPA rule is to comply with a Supreme Court ruling this year that narrowed the scope of the Clean Water Act and the agency’s power to regulate waterways and wetlands. more

Revised Lead and Copper Rule: Testing at schools and child-care facilities As schools begin returning to session, water utilities across the United States are busy preparing for fall 2024 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) will require a new level of communication and cooperation with schools and child-care providers. more

Supply chain resilience, FEMA Water Community Lifeline I would like to share several items that I think may be of interest to you. Topics include: Supply Chain Resilience Assessments Opportunity more

For OPERATORS: The Down and Dirty of How Small Towns Can Avoid Getting Hacked - 1 hour Virtually no water/wastewater operators, ever, went into water because they wanted to be experts in cybersecurity. Yet, love it or hate it, there is a very urgent need to be aware of what is important and what you can and should do about it. more

PFAS Settlement Briefing: Award For Your Utility 09.06.23 1:00 pm CDT This webinar will go over the details of the current PFAS settlements, the timeframes involved with each PFAS settlement, how the current settlements can be applied, and future PFAS settlement outlooks. more

EPA Releases Preliminary Results of PFAS Sampling in Public Water Systems Under UCMR 5 The UCMR provides a mechanism for the EPA to collect data regarding impacts to public water systems from “emerging contaminants,” for which the SDWA does not otherwise require sampling and mitigation. more

Can the insurance industry sustain PFAS? - The Insurer McGill and Partners’ Casey Petersen examines the potential risks the insurance industry faces from per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), how insurance carriers have been responding to the rise of litigation, and what clients should be doing to manage carrier response and exposure. more

Presidential council recommends launching a Department of Water to confront cyberthreats ... The National Infrastructure Advisory Council is calling for drastic changes to increase the resiliency of U.S. water systems. more

Latest Edition of NRWA Rural Water Magazine more

EPA staffing hits crisis point as Biden sends disaster relief workers to Hawaii | The Hill As people in Hawaii grapple with what could become the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history, we’re once again forced to confront the tragic effects of climate change. more

U.S. Wastewater Tests Spot Highly Mutated Variant of COVID-19 | Health - Islander News Public health officials have detected the new BA.2.86 variant of COVID-19 in U.S. wastewater, giving rise to concerns about the highly mutated variant in the United States. more

OMB Finalizes Guidance For Implementing BABA in Federal Grants and Agreements The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the pre-publication of the Agency’s final revisions to the Guidance for Grants and Agreements. more

Update on EPA Appellate Cases for LCRR On a July 31, 2023 Status Report in the Newburgh Clean Water Project, et al., vs. EPA, EPA indicated that the target date for the proposed LCRI is now expected to be delayed by one month to October 2023. more

CITY OF VALDOSTA: 15000 gallons of wastewater released into area near Knights Creek Failure of the bypass pumping operation was the likely the cause of the spill. Warning signs have been posted. more

STATE NEWS

Sanford moves forward on contamination ordinance after 1,4-dioxane was discovered in water wells | Orlando Sentinel Sanford commissioners on Monday unanimously gave preliminary approval to an ordinance that requires anyone who causes or knows about a pollutant or toxic chemical being spilled or dumped on the ground or into a water body to quickly report it to the city and other authorities. more

Bonifay water and sewer rates will no longer raise annually | WTVY Rising utility rates have become a thing of the past in the city of Bonifay. more

New water standards present challenge - Palm Beach Florida Weekly A new proposed regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency released March 14 is set to cause a tidal wave of water compliance issues in every water system throughout the country, including those that supply your drinking water. more

Local waste water testing shows increase in COVID-19 - YouTube more

Say goodbye to septic tanks | Community | midfloridanewspapers.com The Lake County Board of County Commissioners has a new program to encourage homeowners to ditch their septic tanks. more

21 historic Florida hurricanes and where they made landfall in the Sunshine State | Naples Daily News Where and when a hurricane will make landfall is one of the great weather mysteries. Until it actually happens, it is anyone's guess. more

What is Legionnaires' disease? - NBC 6 South Florida Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. This bacteria can also lead to a milder illness called Pontiac fever, which resembles flu-like symptoms. more

Plant operator discovers hydrogen peroxide leak at Lake Mary water treatment facility | WESH Multiple crews stationed themselves along Rhinehart Road in Lake Mary on Friday after the chief operator of the city's water treatment facility noticed something was off when he got to work around 6 a.m. more

INVESTIGATES: Does EPA lead pipe survey hold water? - Action News Jax Action news Jax Ben Becker is investigating how safe is your drinking water after a recent EPA survey concluded Florida has more lead pipes carrying water into homes than any other state. more

Annual Collier water system disinfecting, flushing could temporarily affect taste, smell - WGCU News Collier County Water Division will change the disinfection process of the drinking water supply from Sept. 1 to Sept. 29 and flush the water distribution system from Sept. 2 to Oct. 6. more

This Week in Water History

Water Tanks Cause of Impure Water

August 23, 1911: Municipal Journal article. Water Tanks Cause of Impure Water “Chicago, Ill.-Flat dwellers who patronize Lake Michigan for drinking purposes can get a certificate of quality from the City Health Department. Health Commissioner Young declared that any samples brought to the department drawn from faucets in apartment houses will be tested, and if found to be impure orders will be given to the owners of the buildings to cleanse the tanks on the roofs from which the supply is drawn. Much of the danger from drinking water comes from the neglect of the owners of apartment houses to keep these tanks properly cleaned. The regulations of the Health Department require that these tanks be covered and sufficiently protected to keep cats or other animals from wandering into them. In many of them, however, moss and other vegetable matter accumulates. In practically all buildings more than two stories in height tanks are necessary in order to supply water to the upper floors.”

Commentary: In Chicago during this period, algae growing in elevated water tanks was the least of a resident’s problems. It was not until the year of this article (1911) that Chicago began installing chlorination stations on the pumping facilities from Lake Michigan. Prior to this, death from severe typhoid fever epidemics killed many tens of thousands over the decades of the city serving contaminated water. Filtration was not installed until 1947.