Hurricane Season is Here - Make Sure You are Prepared with StormTracker!
 The StormTracker website is utilized for online reporting of drinking water (and wastewater) system status. When storms or other natural disasters are predicted to have an impact on the State of Florida, the "Storm Tracker" website is activated for the affected areas. This website allows individual water system owners/operators to update and inform the Department of the system's status before, during, and after an event. It is important to visit/update this site before a storm to ensure it is up to date, and during and after the storm to advise of the status of your facility.
State and local officials use this information to assist you during storms and recovery. To enter the status and other important information regarding your system, or for more information, please go to the Storm Tracker internet site listed above and type in the following login:
Username: florida
Password: storm
Should your facility ever require immediate assistance to ensure public health and safety, please contact your County Emergency Operation Center (EOC) or the State Watch Office (SWO) at 800-320-0519.
StormTracker entry does not replace required SWO reporting; any normally-reportable emergencies, storm-related or not, still must be reported to the SWO.
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All regulated systems (community, non-transient non-community and transient non-community) are required to monitor for nitrate and nitrite before Dec. 31, 2019. It is recommended that systems sample early to avoid possible delays due to bad weather or the busy holiday season in November and December.
This is also a big sampling year for our non-transient non-community systems (NTNCs). These systems are required to monitor for inorganic contaminants including nitrate and nitrite, volatile organic contaminants, synthetic organic contaminants and Stage 2 disinfection byproducts (in accordance with the water system’s state-approved monitoring plan). The majority of NTNCs, as well as some community systems, will also have to monitor for lead and copper this year between June and September. If you have any questions concerning your chemical monitoring for this year, please call Paula Smith at 850-595-0632, Lexie Woodson at 850-595-0640, or Nicole Hetzel at 850-595-0660.
The U.S. EPA has a guide on how to effectively communicate with customers about chronic contaminants in drinking water.
According to the guide, talking to the public provides an opportunity to:
- Build the public’s trust
- Develop closer ties to your community
- Explain your utility’s commitment to delivering
safe drinking water
- Prepare the public for future communication
about health risks
- Gain support for investment in their water
system
Click here to read more of the informative fact sheet!
Thanks for Another Successful CCR Season!
This year is the 20th anniversary of the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), and the Northwest District will once again have a 100% compliance rate! All 170 community systems developed their CCRs and delivered them to their customers on time. It is a testament to the great work and effort the Northwest Florida water systems put into achieving compliance.
Annually, CCR Help Sessions are held in various locations to assist water systems in writing a complete and accurate CCR. This year, Elizabeth Willard and Lexie Woodson, held 12 help sessions with eight in Pensacola and four in Tallahassee.
*Bit of fun trivia* - there have been donuts at the 8 a.m. help session since the first one in 1999!
In 2019, 87 water systems attended the help sessions to complete their CCRs. Computer data printouts from our database were emailed to another 72 systems to assist them with compiling their CCR. Additionally, 221 drafts were reviewed outside of the help sessions to aid systems in publishing accurate and complete CCRs.
Pat yourselves on the back for a job well done. Thanks again to the Northwest Florida water systems for being such a great group to work with.
Additional Hurricane Season Response Tools for Water Facilities!
Communities in hurricane-prone areas are encouraged to make preparations. U.S. EPA has developed tools to help water utilities prepare for, respond to, and recover from hurricane-related impacts. Check out EPA's Water Utility Response On-The-Go App that is available for download.
The App allows users to:
- Identify and contact emergency response
partners
- Monitor local and national severe weather
- Review and complete incident-specific checklists
- Populate, save and email damage assessment
forms with photo attachments
- Access Incident Command System procedures
and resources
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Northwest Florida entities recognized for operational excellence and proactive innovations
The Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Plant Excellence Awards program allows the Department to recognize water and wastewater facilities that demonstrate excellence in many facets of operation, including innovative treatment; operation, maintenance, and compliance; waste reduction and pollution prevention; and recycling.
Facilities that demonstrate excellence are encouraged to complete and submit a self-nominating form to our Northwest District office for possible recognition at the annual Focus on Change meeting. This year the Department was proud to present awards to the following NWD recipients:
Small Community Water System Winner:
Naval Air Station Whiting Field
Medium Community Water System Winner:
Destin Water Users, Inc.
Large Community Water System Winner:
Bay County Water Treatment Plant
There is also a non-community water system category, but this year we didn’t receive any applicants. We’d love to have some non-communities apply!
New Risk Assessment and Emergency Response Plan Requirements!
Are you aware of the U.S. EPA’s new emergency readiness/response requirements for community water systems serving populations greater than 3,300?
Depending on size, these systems have deadlines of:
- March 31, 2020, Dec. 31, 2020, or June 30, 2021, to conduct a risk and resilience assessment and certify completion to U.S. EPA
- Sept. 30, 2020, June 30, 2021, or Dec. 30, 2021, to develop or update an emergency response plan using the information gained in the assessment and certify completion to U.S. EPA.
To find out more about these requirements for community water systems serving populations greater than 3,300, read EPA's Risk and Resilience Assessments Fact Sheet.
Please Note: This is a Federal requirement administered by U.S. EPA. For questions regarding AIWA or to submit required documents, contact the U.S. EPA at dwresilience@epa.gov.
What is FlaWARN?
Florida's Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (FlaWARN) is the formalized system of "utilities helping utilities" to address mutual aid during emergency situations. These incidents may be man-made or natural disaster. The project's infrastructure consists of a secure web-based data bank of available resources and a practical mutual aid agreement designed to reduce bureaucratic red tape in times of emergency. The goal of FlaWARN is to provide immediate assistance to impacted utilities by whatever means necessary until such time that a permanent solution to the devastation may be implemented.
Florida water utilities, along with those in the rest of the nation, face unprecedented challenges. Now is a great time to innovate, as well as improve existing security and preparedness efforts. Public infrastructure is at the heart of this process and FlaWARN is leading the way. There is no charge for joining FlaWARN and joining offers the opportunity to increase your facility's response and recovery capability.
Helpful links:
Check out the Florida Rural Water Association’s recommended treatment techniques for controlling the formation of disinfection by-products in small and medium water systems!
Their stepwise approach includes:
- Implementing an aggressive tank cleaning program
- Establishing a systematic and regular water main flushing program
- Reducing water age and installing automatic flushing devices
- Minimizing chlorine contact time in the water treatment plant
- Reducing total chlorine dosage while maintaining minimum free residual
If the first five steps are unsuccessful:
- Install treatment to improve water quality
For more information on each step visit FRWA.net
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