News Beat

CADD Technician–Water Wastewater–Tavares, Florida Halff Associates, Inc. has an immediate opening for a Computer Aided Design Drafter (CADD) Technician in our Tavares, FL office to perform drafting, plans preparation and to work with design professionals on our Water/Wastewater team.

Responsibilities: - Prepare drawings for utility projects, including utility lines, plants, pump stations and associated infrastructure utilizing CAD software - Actively participate in implementing and monitoring continuous improvement initiatives to improve project quality - Support multiple projects when needed and help ensure timely completion of assignments

Requirements: • 3+ years of working experience in the Civil Engineering industry, water and wastewater utilities preferred but not required • Experience in AutoCAD • Drafting Certificate or Associates Drafting Degree a plus

To apply: https://www.halff.com/join-our-team/

Halff Associates is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.

Brevard County Utilities is seeking Treatment Plant Operators and field personnel to work in various locations throughout Brevard County, Florida. These positions are for a County-owned public water and sewer Utility. For more information and to apply, go to the employment website of the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners at

https://career8.successfactors.com/career?company=brevardcou

Brevard County is an Equal Opportunity/Veterans Preference Employer

City of Sanibel Utility Maintenance Technician I Position Available Install, repair and maintain the City’s wastewater treatment, collection, and reuse facilities. Preferred candidate will have at least one year experience in Utilities maintenance and repair with maintenance of pumps and valves. Pay range is $37,440 to $56,992 annual (negotiable) based on experience.

Complete job descriptions for advertised position is available online. Interested candidates can apply at https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/sanibel. EOE/ADA/M/F/VP

Raftelis acquired Westin Technology Solutions on Nov. 1, 2021, to enhance its consulting focus on the effective use of business technologies, including utility billing and work and asset management optimization.

“Adding Westin’s expertise in utility asset and customer management technologies complements what we already do and allows us to provide new services to our utility clients in a particularly difficult area— managing the planning, selection, and implementation of modern utility billing and maintenance management solutions to replace outdated, suboptimal systems,” said Peiffer Brandt, Raftelis president and chief executive officer. “Together we can better serve water and wastewater utilities that need to evaluate, upgrade, replace, or optimize their customer information system or computerized maintenance management system solutions.”

Raftelis helps local governments and utilities thrive by providing management consulting expertise to help the leaders of these organizations create the change they seek; it's helped more than 600 organizations in the last year alone. Raftelis works in all areas of management consulting, including finance, assessment, communications, technology, executive recruitment, and strategic planning.

The Raftelis team includes leading local government and utility consultants, many of whom are former local government managers, utility directors, and public-sector employees. Raftelis consultants are located throughout the United States and focus on public-sector work in North America and beyond.

Two of Florida’s largest cities have ended their water emergencies now that COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined drastically in the state.

In August of last year, the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) asked residents to stop watering their lawns or washing their cars because liquid oxygen that’s used for treating the city’s water was being diverted to hospitals for patients suffering from the virus. The utility made the decision as it faced the prospect of getting only half of its usual shipment of liquid oxygen used for water treatment. Since the 1990s, OUC has used liquid oxygen to remove the slight discoloration and rotten-egg smell that is found naturally in Florida’s water supply.

The Tampa Water Department also started using chlorine instead of its usual liquid oxygen method to disinfect its water of viruses and bacteria because liquid oxygen was being diverted to local hospitals.

On Oct. 12, 2021, OUC officials said that residents can resume their normal water use, including irrigating their lawns and washing their cars. In Tampa, officials at the water department said they were going back to treating the 82 million gallons of drinking water produced each day with liquid oxygen.

“We were fortunate that we were able to quickly switch over to using chlorine as our primary way to disinfect the water. Not every water treatment plant affected by the shortage of liquid oxygen had that flexibility,” said Chuck Weber, director of the Tampa Water Department. “The resumption of regular liquid oxygen deliveries lets us return to our normal operations.”

About 40 percent of the potable water in Orlando is used for irrigation, but Orlando users only cut back water consumption by 16 percent, hitting a low of 76 million gallons, indicating the restriction wasn’t universally embraced. Nevertheless, OUC officials said they were able to get through the crunch and averted the need for a boil-water alert.

“With our community’s help in reducing the demand on our system, we were able to get through this difficult time together,” said Clint Bullock, OUC general manager and chief executive officer. S