The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced over $361 million from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda for Florida drinking water and clean water infrastructure upgrades. The funding is part of the over $50 billion investment in water infrastructure upgrades from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – the largest such investment in American history. Today’s announcement will support essential water infrastructure that protects public health and treasured water bodies across the state. Almost half of this funding will be available as grants or principal forgiveness loans, ensuring funds reach underserved communities most in need of investments in water infrastructure.

"President Biden's Investing in America agenda continues to transform communities for the better with this latest infusion of funds for critical water infrastructure projects," said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. "With $50 billion in total, the largest investment in water infrastructure in our nation's history, EPA will enable communities across the nation to ensure safer drinking water for their residents and rebuild vital clean water infrastructure to protect public health for decades to come."

"Florida, particularly South Florida, stands at the forefront of the climate crisis. The impacts of climate change are an ever-present reality for our residents as we experience some of the costliest natural disasters and climate-related events, including flooding. The erosion of our water infrastructure and the risk of the Biscayne Aquifer, South Florida's primary source of clean drinking water, underscore how urgent this crisis is. Today's announcement by the Biden-Harris Administration marks a significant victory for Florida and our local community, ensuring that the fundamental right to clean drinking water remains safeguarded. We now have the power to transform our communities by ensuring that access to clean water will never be a privilege but a basic necessity that every individual deserves. I thank President Biden and EPA Administrator Michael Regan for prioritizing Florida and ensuring we can address the challenges to accessing clean drinking water. Together, we can forge a path towards a more sustainable and resilient future for our state," said US Representative Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24). more

Less than two weeks until the Thirty-Third year of Focus on Change begins. We have partnered with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for thirty-three years to help keep operators up to date on new regulations that will affect systems throughout the state.

For more information on Focus on Change, click here. Be sure to register early by clicking on the location below. See you there!

NATIONAL NEWS

Over $770M Announced for Rural Infrastructure Projects During Investing in America Tour

Funding will bring high-speed internet, clean drinking water and modern infrastructure to more than one million people in rural communities. more

Updated: Top Cyber Actions for Securing Water Systems CISA, partners provide additional resources to support water systems defending against cyber activity. more

USDA Rural Development (RD) field offices nationwide are looking for environmental protection specialists This position serves as a State Environmental Review Coordinator (SERC), advising, analyzing, and managing a wide range of issues to support RD's environmental policies, procedures, and review responsibilities. This announcement is for 32 positions, each to serve in one of USDA Rural Development's 47 state offices or other field offices nationwide. more

CISA Fact Sheet Aims To Aid Water Sector Cyber Preparedness Last week, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), along with EPA and the FBI, published a new fact sheet to aid drinking water and wastewater systems reduce cyber risks and improve resilience to cyberattacks. more

eBook | Lead & Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) Compliance The U.S. EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) require utilities to maintain an inventory of service line materials by October 16, 2024, posing information and operations challenges for water suppliers. more

Water Resilience Updates from the U.S. EPA's Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division (WICRD) America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) Section 2013 requires community (drinking) water systems (CWSs) serving more than 3,300 people to develop or update risk and resilience assessments (RRAs) and emergency response plans (ERPs) every five years. more

FDEM Hazard Mitigation Grant Program State-Wide Applications Briefing for Hurricane Idalia (DR-4734) 03.18.24 @ 1:30 pm The purpose of this webinar is to provide information regarding the HMGP for the currently open application period for Hurricane Idalia (DR-4734) to those interested sub-applicants for all tiers. more

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $50M From Investing In America Agenda To Clean Up Legacy Pollution On Federal Lands And Waters Funding from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will create good-paying jobs, help clean up more than 120 orphaned oil and gas well sites nationwide. more

Hyundai’s EV plant needs lots of water. Some South Georgia neighbors fear plans to drill wells | Atlanta Journal Constitution Pumping restrictions in coastal Georgia have forced the project to draw water from wells farther inland. more

Dishwasher Pods And Laundry Sheets Face Ban In NYC Over Microplastic Contamination Some popular consumer cleaning products are on the chopping block in New York City as officials look to protect drinking water from an emerging contaminant. more

STATE NEWS

Water rates may increase – inside and outside the city Dyana Stewart from the Florida Rural Water Association presented the Sopchoppy city commission with a rate study, laying out the options for future rate increases to users inside and outside the city. more

Gov. DeSantis announces $6 million in Idalia relief | WUFT Florida lawmakers made the funds available during a special session of the legislature in November. The money will be used to support low- to moderate-income homeowners who no longer have insurance after the storm.  more

Amid measles outbreak in South Florida in Broward, another infection emerged in Central Florida  Since late last week, two more Floridians appear to have contracted highly contagious measles, adding up to what looks like nine cases in all. The Florida Department of Health reported a probable case in Broward and another infection in Polk County, according to the state’s reportable disease surveillance system. more

Fort Myers Florida Boil Water Notices: Two water main breaks in a week - The News-Press  Residents of some Fort Myers neighborhoods who have had to withstand low water pressure in recent years are again making trips to the store to buy clean water until the city's latest water crisis has abated. more

City proposes wastewater facility expansion | West Orange Times & Observer City staff presented an update on the estimated $100 million expansion of the Crest Avenue Wastewater Treatment Facility to the Winter Garden City Commission before its meeting Thursday, Feb. 8. more

Army Corps attends public meeting in Stuart, discusses Lake O discharges with residents | WPEC  Lake Okeechobee discharges have started, and people who live in communities near the impacted waterways are not so happy. more

Aeration to Purify Sewage

February 21, 1895: Letter to Engineering News. Aeration as a Means of Purifying Sewage and Water. by J.H. Curtis. “The subject of sewage disposal and the purification of alluvial river water has been long considered and well digested by chemists, but the engineering end of the question has seemed to lag. About a year ago the subject was experimented on at St. Louis, and the result of these experiments may be given as follows:

Aeration was employed in which the liquid to be treated is absolutely disintegrated or reduced to spray. At the same instant of time and in juxtaposition with the liquid spray must be an atom of disintegrated air. What is the result? Organic matter accompanying the liquid is at once seized by the different constituents of the air, and there is produced pure water and harmless inorganic compounds. How performed? By a screen floor, say, with pepper-box perforations, over which is a layer of coarse river sand, somewhere below another layer of sand, leaving an air chamber between the two. Then, to duplicate nature, cause a rain storm of the liquid to be purified by forcing air into the chamber of a little less pressure than what is sufficient to sustain the weight of the liquid in the tank.

These drops falling on the fine sand, which must be kept unsubmerged, are then and there purified. [Mr. Curtis then goes on to quote the results from some experiments conducted at the Lawrence Experiment Station in Massachusetts.

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