June 1st is here again. Time to get those hurricane Emergency Response Plans out and dusted off…

The 2025 Hurricane Season is predicted to be an active one, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The ocean temperatures are already warmer than normal and that is likely to develop into an engine that creates more storms this year.

As you can see in the illustration below, NOAA officials predict there will be 13 to 19 named tropical storms or hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean region this year before the official Hurricane Season draws to a close Nov. 30.

At least six of those storms will develop into full hurricanes with winds of 75 mph or above, according to NOAA’s projection. Some three to five of those hurricanes could become major storms, meaning Category 3 hurricanes or stronger.

We at Florida Rural Water are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. Our warehouse is stocked with generators, by-pass pumps and various other equipment so we can be ready for any type of emergency. We have developed Standard Operating Procedures in case of an emergency, that can be deployed on a moments notice. The office in Tallahassee is set with emergency generators so that we are able to monitor our members needs at all times.

Is your system ready for hurricane season?

Have you updated your information on WATER Tracker at https://flwatertracker.com/? 

Is your Emergency Response Plan up to date?

Have your practiced it?

With the start of hurricane season, here are some more suggestions that you may want to consider to be sure that your system is ready for "the storm":

• Contact Electrician to Check Emergency Generator & Run on Load Bank 
• Contact Electrician to Check Running Amps on Pumps
• Make Sure Unnecessary Equipment is Properly Decommissioned
• Clean, Inspect & Disinfect Aerator/Degassifier Screens, Sprayheads & Gaskets

Be sure to take advantage of the tax break holiday that begins on June 7th and runs through June 20th to help out with purchases that you may need to prepare for the season ahead. Remember the peak of Hurricane Season doesn't come until August and September.

Always remember, FRWA is here to help you! Contact us any time at frwa@frwa.net.

Attention Exhibitors -- Our booths are sold out. If you would like to be put on a waitlist, please email finance@frwa.net and we will contact you if one becomes available.

July 29-31, 2025

Hilton Daytona Beach

100 North Atlantic Avenue

Daytona Beach, FL 32118

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UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

CONTACT: SRFRFI@FloridaDEP.gov

Funding Opportunity: State Revolving Fund Assistance for Utilities Impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is now accepting project proposals from drinking water and wastewater utilities affected by hurricanes Helene and/or Milton. Through the Supplemental Appropriation for Hurricanes Helene and Milton (SA-HMW), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has provided $1.6 billion in federal funding to Florida's Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) and Clean Water SRF to support eligible recovery and resilience projects.

To be eligible, the applicant must be an SRF-eligible entity and the proposed project must address damage, disruption or the loss of a mission-essential function, such as a threat to public health, caused by one or both of the hurricanes. Projects may involve planning, design or construction and must meet SRF-eligibility requirements. Additionally, projects should aim to reduce vulnerability to flood or fire damage or enhance resilience to flooding and hurricanes. A list of eligible project types can be found in Attachment 3 of EPA’s SA-HMW guidance.

To assist applicants, DEP's Drinking Water and Clean Water SRF programs will offer combined virtual office hours this summer to provide administrative, programmatic and technical assistance related to SA-HMW funding. Virtual office hours will be held via Microsoft Teams on the following Thursdays from 2-3 p.m. EDT: June 5, June 12, June 19 and June 26, 2025. 

Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. EDT on June 30, 2025. To apply, complete a Drinking Water SRF Request for Inclusion and/or Clean Water SRF Request for Inclusion and email the completed form and required backup documentation to SRFRFI@FloridaDEP.gov. While electronic submittal is preferred, hard copies will also be accepted. To submit a hard copy, contact Catherine Murray at 850-245-2966.

Please note, any information submitted to DEP will become a public record, subject to disclosure in accordance with Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, and Article 1, § 24 of the Florida Constitution. Submittal of a project proposal does not create an agreement nor does it guarantee funding.

Learn more about DEP's Division of Water Restoration Assistance.

NATIONAL NEWS 

Chairman Griffith Delivers Opening Statement at Subcommittee on Environment Hearing on ...  “I’m glad to have Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, a friend and former colleague, back in the House today to testify before the Subcommittee on Environment on President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget request. more

Senate Confirms Sean Donahue as President Trump’s EPA General Counsel-WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has confirmed Sean Donahue to serve as the General Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Sean Donahue will work in this new role to advance the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative. more

STATE NEWS

Lakeland’s Huge Wastewater Project Has Begun-The orange barrels and “road closed” signs on Lotus Avenue near Ariana Street mark the start of the biggest project Lakeland’s Water Utilities department has undertaken. more

Governor Announced $389 Million to Protect Quality, Supply of Florida Water Resources  Governor Ron DeSantis recently announced more than $389 million in grants to improve water quality and quantity across Florida. more

Florida just created a law to ban fluoride in water. What should you do now?-Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a bill that will stop local governments from adding fluoride to water, prompting Florida dentists to brace for what’s next. more

Working Together Again: Rep. Salzman, New Century Mayor Discuss Town’s Future | North Escambia Century Mayor Ben Boutwell, who was sworn into office just last Friday, and Rep. Michelle Salzman held a sit-down meeting over lunch on Wednesday to talk about Century’s future. more

May 27, 1755: Hans Christopher Christiansen installed the first municipal water pumping plant in America at Bethlehem, PA; city supplied from a 70 foot high tank that was filled with water pumped from a spring through wooden pipes.

“Begun in 1754 and enlarged in 1762, the Bethlehem Waterworks is thought to be the first municipal pumping system to provide drinking and washing water in the United States. Johann Christopher Christensen devised the system in 1754 to transfer spring water from the Monocray Creek flood plain to the Moravian settlement on the bluff above it. Six years later, Christensen enlarged the waterworks and installed it in a 24-foot-square limestone rubble structure with a red-tile covered hipped-bellcast-gable roof. The system’s 18-foot undershot waterwheel powered three single acting cast-iron pumps which forced spring water through wood (later lead) pipes 320 feet (94 vertical feet) by a collecting tower, and from there water flowed by gravity to strategically placed cisterns throughout the community. Machines to raise water had been in use in Europe for centuries, but until the construction of the Bethlehem Waterworks, none had been erected in the American Colonies.

In 1652 the Water-Works Company of Boston had constructed a gravity conduit system that used bored logs to convey water from wells and springs to a 12-foot-square reservoir, but the system had not fulfilled the expectations of its promoters and had fallen into disuse. Christensen, born in Schleswig-Holstein in 1716 and trained during his youth in a royal mill in Hadersleben, probably took his ideas for the Bethlehem system from his knowledge of the forcing pumps that had been in use in many German cities since the end of the 15th century. The system served the city until 1832.

By the 1960s the area had become an automobile junkyard. The stone pumphouse was restored in the 1970s, and the waterwheel and pumps were subsequently reconstructed based on the original plans that had been preserved in the Moravian Archives in Germany. The Old Waterworks is a National Historic Landmark.”

FLORIDA RURAL WATER ASSOCIATION http://www.frwa.net

2970 Wellington Circle | Tallahassee FL 32309

850.668.2746 | Contact Us