C Factor—Patrick “Murf” Murphy

President, FWPCOA

Iam not ready for one more strawberry field to be plowed and excavated for 2,500 singlefamily dwellings. Over three-quarters of the nation’s midwinter strawberries come from Plant City, and it’s been known as the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World for as long as I can remember.

I am also not ready to see a series of wetlands “mitigated” and pasture lands stripped to put in thousands of townhouses, condominiums, and million-square-feet warehouses. I always considered mitigation as punishment for those who did what they shouldn’t have done to our wetlands, which now seems like a blessing to allow ruining the wetlands.

I was not ready for Senate Bill 64 and its deadline of Nov. 1, 2021, for submittal of plans to stop surface water discharge. I was offended to be lumped in with nonadvanced wastewater treatment facilities meeting the Grizzle-Figg Act discharge limitation. I’ve done a Level II Water Quality-Based Effluent Limitation (WQBEL) study that has morestringent loading requirements, making our facility limits even tighter than the Grizzle-Figg numbers.

Plant City just finalized both its water and wastewater master plans, agreeing that the population of Plant City (currently at just 40,000) will double by 2025, and triple by 2045. This means that we will need two more water plants and a new wastewater plant quickly. It took over five years to design and build the currently expanded wastewater plant, so that doesn’t give us a lot of time to waste—and we need to get the funding!

There are estimates that 1,000 people are moving to Florida each day, and its population will increase to nearly 26 million by 2030. By that time the state is projected to use 7.7 billion gallons per day of water, which is 1.3 billion gallons per day more than is currently used. In my opinion, I’m not the only one not ready!

In speaking to some regulators, they are not ready, senators and state representatives are not informed enough, and consumers are not aware of how water and wastewater plants operate now. They are concerned with how much their water bills are currently and may not understand the issue until all the lakes are bone dry. Operators and engineers are going to need to fight for what’s right to truly have alternative sources of water supply.

First off, kudos to all the members of the Potable Reuse Commission (PRC) who work so diligently to address water issues in Florida. Its mission statement includes “develop a framework for potable reuse implementation in Florida to augment future water supply and support water quality initiatives” and “advice elected officials and regulatory agencies on statutory and regulatory challenges and present consensus based solutions.” This provides the underlying statutory framework for the implementation of potable reuse as an alternative water supply option.

The first draft of Chapter 62-610 of the Florida Administration Code (F.A.C.), Reuse Of Reclaimed Water and Land Application, had to be reworked, and at this time (late December 2021) it is still not finalized. It is posted on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) website.

The first joint Public Workshop for Potable Reuse Rulemaking was held Jan. 14, 2021, via a GoToWebinar (thanks to COVID-19). The second joint workshop was held June 2, 2021 (also via GoToWebinar), and covered the updates to Chapters 62-610, 62-625, 62-550, and 62-555 F.A.C. in response to the previous comment period. It’s hard to read a room when you’re not in the room, but the workshop went fast.

Chapter 62-550 F.A.C. and Chapter 62-555 F.A.C. are still in rulemaking and the revisions will update the chapters to be consistent with other Title 62 chapters, clarify current language, and identify the requirements for implementing treated reclaimed water as a source for public water systems. These are not easy tasks, and the proposed revisions would have to support, and be consistent and compliant with, the Florida Clean Waterways Act of 2020-150, Florida Statutes 403.064, Reuse of Reclaimed Water. Our friends at FDEP have a difficult job, and we must encourage and help them however we can to have this move forward in a realistic, feasible, and attainable way.

The potable reuse rulemaking link on the FDEP website is https://floridadep.gov/water/ domesticwastewater/content/water-reusenewsrulemaking-information.

The FWPCOA has approximately onethird of the licensed operators in the state as members. It should be more than that, but that’s another topic all together. What’s important here is that FWPCOA has a long history of advancing the professional status of water and wastewater operators. The association works in close cooperation with the Florida Water Environment Association (FWEA), Florida Section of the American Water Works Association (FSAWWA), Florida State Department of Health, FDEP, and the state educational system.

The association is comprised of members who are actively engaged in or deal with the production, treatment, or distribution of water, and/or the collection, treatment, or disposal of wastewater, whether industrial or domestic. Who better than operators to institute advanced training for indirect and direct potable water treatment? The technology is out there, and the reliability is there; we just need to work together and get specific classes blended appropriately, include all the disciplines, and be ready for a future of increasing potable water scarcity.

The association’s Education Committee is already making plans, and at least one of the topics at the Operators Showcase at this year’s Florida Water Resource Conference (FWRC), to be held April 24-27, 2022, in Daytona, will be potable reuse. Please do not fail to attend this joint conference, sponsored by FSAWWA, FWEA, and FWPCOA; it’s a great networking and technical-session event.

The FWPCOA 2022 Spring State Short School will be held March 14-18, 2022, at the Indian River State College in Fort Pierce. The following courses, as usual, will be offered: S Backflow Repair Certification S Backflow Tester Certification S Backflow Tester Recertification S Facility Management S Reclaimed Water Distribution courses (A,

B, and C) S Reclaimed Water Distribution Abbreviated

Courses (A, B, and C) S Reclaimed Water Distribution Exam Only (A, B, and C) S Stormwater Management (A, B, and C) S Stormwater Management Exam Only (A, B, and C) S Utilities Maintenance (Level II and III) S Utilities Maintenance Exam Only (Level II and III) S Utility Customer Relations (Level I, II, and

III) S Wastewater Collection System Operator (A,

B, and C) S Wastewater Collection System Operator

Exam Only (A, B, and C) S Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) S Wastewater Process Control S Wastewater Troubleshooting S Water Distribution System Operator (Level

I, 2, and 3) S Water Distribution System Operator Exam

Only (Level I, 2, and 3)

This will be the second time the SCADA class is offered at the short school, so don’t overlook it. Make sure you review the details for the sessions and meet the criteria required for certain courses or exams.

For event details go to www.fwpcoa.org and view the event calendar. For all events contact Shirley Reaves at (321) 383-9690 or fwpcoa@gmail.com, or Darin Bishop at (561) 840-0340 or memfwpcoa@gmail.com.

My hat is off to Ken Enlow for his twoyear stint as president! By no means do I want to take away from all the things that directors, committee chairs, and all the other movers and shakers of FWPCOA all dealt with during his tenure, but those two years created their own kind of issues that were rather unique and somewhat unpleasant. I’d like to recap some of the bad as briefly as I can: S Feb. 11, 2020 - Walt Smyser, our dear friend and FWPCOA webmaster, passed away. S March 13, 2020 - The last-minute cancellation of the March Spring State Short

School (and both the FWPCOA board and

Education Committee meetings) and the suspension of all face-to-face training. I believe this was the first cancellation since before World War II. S April 2020 - The joint conference FWRC was canceled. S June 6, 2020 - The first “electronic” meeting ever for FWPCOA was held, and the challenges with virtual meetings, then hybrid meetings, followed. S August 9, 2020 – The Fall State Short

School, proposed with COVID-19 mitigation recommendations, was canceled because of the Indian River State College closure.

There was also personal life losses and changes, an additional year of COVID, cancellation of the 2021 FWRC, abrupt cancellation of the FWPCOA awards banquet during the August 2021 short school, and more that I don’t know.

Thank you, Mr. Enlow, for your dedication and commitment to FWPCOA!

I want to thank all the leadership and hard-working members in our organization. Thank you for doing all you do every single day, in and out! Let’s keep that water clean! S