FWPCOA Training Calenda

Continued from page 64 utilities to be managed more sustainably, there is no perfect path to get there. Each water system has its own water resource needs, infrastructure issues, financial position, political issues, energy costs, and other challenges.

This award views sustainability through a triple-bottom-line lens. This means winners will have achieved a balance of innovative and successful efforts in areas of economic, social, and environmental endeavors, such as responsible management of resources, protection of public health, meeting responsibilities to the community, and providing cost-effective services to ratepayers.

President’s Award

The AMWA President’s Award is presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the improvement of water supply management. Eligibility for this award is limited to individuals currently or formerly representing AMWA member agencies, and it recognizes their efforts and dedication in the field of drinking water supply.

Individuals nominated for this award must hold, or have held, a major position with a water supply agency, while actively participating as a member of AMWA.

Donald R. Boyd Award

The Donald R. Boyd Award acknowledges extraordinary personal service in the drinking water field. General criteria include valuable service that advances public understanding and awareness, water quality research, or more general contributions deserving of recognition. This award confers recognition to individuals who have made important contributions to the water industry, including as water system employees (regardless of AMWA membership), government officials, or private consultants.

The award commemorates Donald R. Boyd, one of AMWA’s founding members and its first president.

About the Association

An organization of the largest publicly owned drinking water systems in the United States, AMWA’s membership provides more than 156 million people—from Alaska to Puerto Rico—with safe drinking water.

It’s the nation’s only policy-making organization solely for metropolitan drinking water suppliers. The association was formed in 1981 by a group of general managers of metropolitan water systems who wanted to ensure that the issues of large publicly owned water suppliers would be represented in Washington. Member representatives to AMWA are the general managers and chief operating officers of these large water systems.

The association represents the interests of these water systems by working with Congress and federal agencies to ensure that federal laws and regulations protect public health and are cost-effective. In the realm of utility management, AMWA provides programs, publications, and services to help water suppliers be more effective, efficient, and successful.

Governed by a 22-member board of directors, AMWA represents all regions of the U.S. Committees on utility management, regulations, legislation, sustainability, and security provide the expertise to achieve the goals of water suppliers, including sustainable operations, regulations based on sound science, and cost-effective laws that support the safety and security of drinking water.

Contact Information

For questions on award eligibility or to request an application form, contact Antoinette Barber at 202-331-2820. S

NEWS BEAT

Continued from page 63 Algae Task Force appointed by DeSantis last year.

DeSantis has pledged to spend $2.5 billion over four years to tackle Florida’s water problems, and lawmakers are expected to meet his demand for a $625 million, secondyear installment in the state budget now being finalized by the Legislature.

The legislation approved by the Senate gives the governor more authority for appointing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) secretary. It also shifts to FDEP (from the state’s health department regulation) oversight of the 2.7 million septic tanks throughout Florida. Tens of thousands of these tanks are old, breaking down, and leaking, causing nutrients to flow into waterways and springs, and adding to the algae woes.

While conservation activists are unhappy with the legislation’s rules for agriculture, the industry would face a new regulation: Farmers would be required to keep fertilizer records and submit to inspections every two years by state agriculture department officials to ensure that they’re complying with best management practices.

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Environmental groups have filed suit in federal court to undo a recent decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that handed Florida officials primary regulatory authority over the state’s wetlands. The groups contend that the decision could further destroy the state’s dwindling inventory of marshes, swamps, and other sensitive ecosystems that now account for a fifth of the country’s remaining wetlands.

In their lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the groups assert that EPA’s decision would allow developers in Florida to get projects fast-tracked by avoiding the federal scrutiny that developments in other states get under a host of federal environmental laws.

“The EPA is lowering the bar to allow a state, for the first time, to run the federal wetlands program without meeting federal standards,” said Tania Galloni, Earthjustice managing attorney for Florida. “Developers have called this the ‘holy grail’ because it would make it easier, faster, and cheaper for them to get permits for big projects with less oversight and accountability for environmental impacts.”

Florida had about 20 million acres of wetlands when it was granted statehood in 1845. By 1996, the state had lost nearly half of that because of dredging, draining, and filling. The state’s population growth has spawned a boom in development, which has prompted much of that destruction.

Among the state’s most prized environmental jewels is the Florida Everglades, which is currently the focus of a massive restoration project costing billions of dollars to undo decades of damage, including the draining of huge swaths of its marshes. Wetlands serve a key role in the ecosystem, including helping to maintain water quality and absorb flood waters.

Florida’s request to gain sole permitting authority was launched under the administration of Gov. Rick Scott, now a U.S. senator, who said that EPA’s action does away with “duplicative rules on the state and federal levels” that, he said, “were a waste of taxpayer dollars, and created confusion for everyone involved.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis took on that mantle and formally petitioned the federal government to transfer that authority. Florida became the third state to gain broader permitting authority