What a year it’s been! WateReuse Florida has accomplished so much. While many of these stories have been covered in previous newsletters, I wanted to provide a brief overview of our top 2023 highlights:

• House Infrastructure Strategies Committee in January – Special thanks to Past President Lynn Spivey of Plant City and Mandi Rice of the Southwest Florida Water Management District for presenting the basics of water recycling and the need to raise aware of the opportunities afforded by the One Water initiative.
• Annual 2023 WateReuse Symposium in Atlanta in March – Several WateReuse Florida members were honored with an Award of Excellence, including community water champions Lynn Spivey for the McIntosh Preserve and Mike Britt for Winter Haven’s One Water Master Plan. The District, FDEP and WateReuse Florida were also recognized for Outreach and Education efforts and Robert Beltran was honored with a Service Award.
• SB 64 Webcast in March – Utilities shared their plans during the spring webcast in March, entitled “Florida SB 64 – Compliance Planning and Incorporating Non-beneficial Discharges into Your Water Supply Portfolio”. The webcast featured presentations regarding the challenges of the tight timeline and two utility perspectives.
• Annual WateReuse Florida Summit meeting in April – Held at the University of Florida Straughn IFAS Extension Center in Gainesville, the theme was “Putting Reuse to Good Use.” The meeting included a tour, technical presentations, and student research presentation summaries, with students competing for cash prizes.
• Water Reuse Week in Florida May 14-20 – Water Reuse Week was proclaimed to call attention to water reuse as a vital means of conserving and augmenting Florida’s precious water resources. Thanks again to the many utility partners and their respective boards and commissions who approved proclamations.
• Florida Water Resources Conference (FWRC) in May – Past President Randy Brown was awarded the Water Reuse and Resource Professional of the Year for 2023 in part for his efforts in Pompano Beach for having the only approved reuse system for irrigating salad crops.
• University of South Florida Endowment in June – The WateReuse Florida board approved the establishment of its first named endowment with the University of South Florida for $25,000, which will generate income to be disbursed annually as a scholarship of $1,000 to a deserving student. The scholarship was presented to USF at the WRFL Annual Meeting on Nov 1.
• Plant City Hoppy Hour in September – Over 150 folks gathered to enjoy the debut of “Deja Brew” as the newest beverage made from recycled water originating from the Plant City direct potable reuse demonstration project as part of championing water reuse in the community through the McIntosh Preserve Integrated Water Management Project.
• PFAS Webinar in September – The webinar “Navigating the PFAS Waters from a Water Reuse Perspective” took place to present and discuss PFAS in the context of water reuse, including challenges from regulatory, agriculture, and utility perspectives in Florida.
• Polk County DPR Pilot Facility Ribbon Cutting in November – Polk County held a ribbon cutting and tours of its new DPR pilot facility in Lakeland, which garnered significant positive media coverage.

Many, many thanks go to everyone for a tremendous year of member accomplishments! Also, let’s shine a spotlight on the New Technology and Innovation Committee, led by Pranjali Kumar, Carollo Engineers and Jason Mickel, Pasco County, for their planning and assistance of the webinars and on-site meetings throughout this year! As always, their monthly committee meetings and presentations are recorded and are available for viewing by WateReuse Florida members.

Michael Sweeney, Ph.D. 
WateReuse Florida President 

Mike Sweeney kicked off the annual meeting with a summary of the many accomplishments of the Florida Section this year.

The meeting started with an interesting presentation from Lee Kimball of Black and Veatch regarding the Miami-Dade’s reuse program featuring the Miami Zoo, followed by a virtual visit from Pat Sinicropi, WateReuse Association Executive Director, who provided a national and comprehensive perspective of where we are on the One Water journey.

The Public Relations, Outreach & Membership committee, also affectionally known as the PROM committee, mentioned social media impact continues to increase and our membership is at 69 organizations, the highest it’s ever been!

Our 2024 budget was presented by Jay Hoecker, our Secretary/Treasurer, and was approved, and included an increase in the PROM budget and funds for strategic planning. Five board members were also approved for new terms.

A highlight of the meeting featured the presentation of a check from WateReuse Florida for $25,000 to the University of South Florida to establish a permanent scholarship endowment. This was the first of its kind in our section’s history. The scholarship will serve to support deserving students pursuing degrees in water resource-related fields for perpetuity. Present to accept were Sarah Schlichter and Erin Smith from the University of South Florida. It has been a standing goal of WateReuse Florida to engage with students, have students participate in our meetings, attend our workshops, summits, and symposiums and meet professionals.

Representative Randy Maggard provided a keynote presentation covering reuse from a supportive legislative perspective. He discussed SB 64 and potable reuse education and reiterated that water is our state’s most precious resource, and we as Floridians are responsible for protecting it for future generations.

Lynn Spivey from Plant City summarized the status of current rulemaking. WateReuse Florida input is to move all related potable water rules to drinking water sections. Indirect potable reuse is still in discussion on where it will be placed. Laura Donaldson, our legal counsel, also summarized the status of PFAS cases and how utilities can join class action suits before the deadlines.

Thank you to our generous sponsors Carollo, Black & Veatch, Hazen, Dewberry, Tetra Tech, Freese and Nichols, and Haskell.

If you have additional news or meetings to share, please contact:

• Ben Glickstein, Director of Communications
  bglickstein@watereuse.org