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National Rural Water Association Volume I, Issue 4 - August, 2004
Rural Water “Gold Medal” Response Helps
Restore As Florida digs out from the aftermath of Hurricane Charley, Florida Rural Water Association teamed up with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to help restore water and wastewater services to more than 4.94 million people in the 15 most devastated counties.
Florida law requires stand-by power and emergency preparedness planning. Each community water system serving more than 350 people must have independent stand-by power and a written emergency plan addressing hurricanes, floods, fire, terrorist attack, and power interruption. Wastewater systems generally must have the same along with structures being protected by flood and pump stations must have back-up power sources. Florida Rural Water Association provided crucial help to DEP as efforts were made across the affected counties to restore water and wastewater services. FRWA turned to their emergency response plan to provide fast assistance where it was needed most including calling in staff to assist in delivering and installing generator power at utility locations. Charley impacted 1,027 public water systems. Of those, 141 serve at least 3,300 people each, collectively providing water to more than 93 percent of the 5.29 million people living in the ransacked area. As of August 20, all but one water system Overall, area drinking water plants fared reasonably well during the hurricane; however, uprooted trees caused significant plumbing and distribution pipe damage. It will take repair crews considerably more time to reestablish permanent service to every neighborhood. As is standard industry and public health practice—and as required by Florida law—boil water notices have been issued throughout the affected area. Two countywide boil water notices have been issued and more than 100 individual systems have issued notices. As drinking water systems come back on line, they must ensure that any bacteriological problems have been eliminated (through disinfection and system “flushing”)—and report that information to DEP for “clearance”—before water can be considered safe to drink. On the other end of the water distribution system is wastewater. Hurricane Charley threatened over 900 domestic wastewater treatment facilities in the 15 county area. Virtually all wastewater problems related to power outages. Only two facilities were confirmed non-operational one week after the storm with the biggest operational assistance needed in the form of emergency portable generators. DEP, with help from the Florida Rural Water Association, is following up with the smaller facilities to confirm their status and determine needs for generators or other resources. As facilities come back on line, their impact on water quality is closely monitored and routinely reported to DEP. In the event of spills, facilities are notifying Florida’s “State Warning Point” emergency management system within 24 hours. The SWP contacts appropriate state and local agencies so that they can help the facilities stop the discharge, clean up the spill, monitor water quality, and resume normal operations. Currently, Florida Rural Water Association is still operating in overdrive. Considerable progress has been made in restoring water and wastewater services after this big storm. FRWA’s “Gold Medal” fast response and positive impact is attributable to a great staff, good equipment, strong resources, well-established relationships, and outstanding FRWA Board efforts. ESI is published by the National Rural Water Association, 2915 S. 13th Street, Duncan, OK 73533. Copyright 2004 |
On the evening of August
13, Hurricane Charley made an abrupt right turn in the Gulf of Mexico and
pounded the coast of Florida with 145 mile an hour winds and a storm surge
of 15 feet. According to an e-mail release from Gov. Bush, almost 2
million Floridians lost power when Charley hit. As of Friday afternoon,
fewer than 150,000 were still without power more people continue to be
connected hour by hour.