FSAWWA SPEAKING OUT
Keeping Florida’s Infrastructure Resilience on the Radar Emilie Moore, P.E., PMP, ENV SP Chair, FSAWWA
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iscussions of resilience are everywhere and Florida is making great strides in providing funding to address flooding and sea level rise resilience. In addition to improving Florida’s resilience to rising waters, resilience funding will improve the condition of Florida’s infrastructure in areas such as, but not limited to, coastal systems, drinking water,
Table 1. Resilient Florida Grant Program Awards for Fiscal Year 2021-22, Sample Projects (source:FDEP)
Project Sponsor
County
City of Gainesville
Alachua
Project Title
Wastewater Lift Station Force Main Resiliency Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Reduction Broward County Broward Hardening Parks Seawalls of and Recreation Intracoastal at Hollywood North Beach City of Hollywood Broward Tidal Flooding Mitigation and Shoreline Protection City of Jacksonville Duval Stormwater Pump Station Miami-Dade County Miami Water Reset Dade Increasing the Resiliency of Drinking Water Infrastructure Miami-Dade County Miami Schenley Park Dade Septic-to-Sewer Conversion Village of Islamorada Monroe Islamorada Transmission Main Adaptation Palm Beach County Palm Australian Avenue Beach Drainage Improvements Pinellas County Pinellas Mobile Home Park Utilities Wastewater
72 July 2022 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Approximate Total Project Cost (dollars) $11,865,000
Expected RFGP Funding Total (dollars) $4,746,000
$18,000,000
$18,000,000
$28,000,000
$14,112,000
$40,000,000
$20,000,000
$20,250,000
15,187,500
$55,000,000
$27,500,000
$35,000,000
$17,500,000
$31,063,067
$13,357,119
$25,000,000
$25,000,000
energy, roads, schools, stormwater, transit, and wastewater.
Florida’s Infrastructure Report Card In the 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, Florida’s grade for 14 infrastructure categories was listed overall as a “C”, which is defined as “mediocre” (ASCE, 2021). The breakdown in the 14 categories is: S Aviation (C+) S Bridges (B) S Coastal areas (C-) S Dams (D-) S Drinking water (C) S Energy (C+) S Levees (D+) S Ports (B) S Roads (C+) S Schools (D+) S Solid waste (B+) S Stormwater (C-) S Transit (C) S Wastewater (C) Overall, America’s infrastructure received a grade of “C-“ in 2021.
Florida’s Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Since 2019, Florida has committed more than $1 billion for flooding and sea level rise resilience programs. Last year’s Senate Bill 1954 (Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience) was signed into law on May 12, 2021, and targets a coordinated approach to Florida’s coastal and inland resiliency known as the Resilient Florida Program (Florida Department of Environmental Protection [FDEP], 2022). The program includes these components: S R esilient Florida Grants S S tatewide Assessment S S ea Level Impact Projection (SLIP) Study and Living Shorelines The Resilient Florida Grant Program (RFGP) awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22 Continued on page 74
