FRC 2019 participants raised over $30,000 for our 2019 charity, The Gift Of Swimming. Thanks to everyone in the remediation industry who contributed to our success this year.

Single Copy Price: $5 Florida algae task December 2019/January 2020 force releases report

Volume 41, Number 6 By ROY LAUGHLIN

NEWgenerator 5 he state’s Blue-Green Algae Task A research team from the University of South Force released its first report in Florida has developed a portable solar-powered T October, a modest but succinct wastewater treatment system that generates energy, list of recommendations to reduce the nutrients and potable water. frequency and manage the severity of harmful algal blooms in Florida waters. Bloom prevention, control 6 Not surprisingly, the report put the AECOM engineers have developed a modestly finger on the “increased delivery of sized mobile system that uses microbubbles to se- nutrients to Florida’s water bodies … quester cyanobacteria cells in a surface floc that as the primary driver of algal prolifera- can be easily skimmed from water. The system may tion and subsequent degradation of prove valuable in handling harmful algae blooms. aquatic ecosystems.” The report also cited land use Duke coal ash 9 changes, alterations in hydrology, and Duke Power filed a coal ash residuals report this increased temperatures and variability summer describing findings of excess levels arsenic, in precipitation associated with climate lithium and molybdenum in groundwater at its Crys- change as significant contributors to nu- tal River Energy Center in Citrus County. The com- trient transfer from land to surface wa- pany is now considering the best methods for site ters. remediation. The report recommended specific actions be taken in eight categories. Knight on nitrates 10 BMAPs Currently, Florida’s water quality Bob Knight thinks the 2016 Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act lacks the teeth needed to standards are regulated through basin resolve the nitrate pollution problem in Florida’s management action plans intended to springs. So far, the data show he is spot on. ensure compliance with numerical nu- trient standards. The standards are re- quired under a court-mandated consent Land acquisition 16 agreement. The Florida Department of Environmental Pro- The task force criticized the strat- tection purchased more acreage within the Wakulla egy in use for its underfunding. Even Springs Protection Zone Florida Forever project. willing local partners are frequently “unable to execute projects,” the report alleged. Departments Photo courtesy of Kinsley McEachern Perhaps more critical, the “effective- Calendar 11 Kinsley McEachern, University of South Florida at St. Petersburg, collects dis- Opinion 10 crete water samples from Tampa Bay for a microplastics study. McEachern, Federal File 2 ALGAE along with a researcher and students from Eckerd College, produced the first Continued on Page 13 extensive quantitative study of microplastics in Tampa Bay. See story below. Florida Notes 3 Water Watch 4 Microplastic particles found in large Got a story lead? Got an idea for a story? Like to submit a column for numbers in Tampa Bay water, sediments consideration? Let us know. And don’t forget to fill us in on your organization’s new people and programs, projects By ROY LAUGHLIN The source of the small thread The researchers’ collection data and technologies—anything of interest to environmental pieces is likely laundering wastewater. showed that samples that exceeded professionals in Florida. Send to P.O. Box 2175, Golden- arine microplastic pollution The fibers that pass through the filter- twice the average microplastic tally of rod, FL 32733. Call us at (407) 671-7777; fax us at (321) refers to small particles of ing process of some wastewater treat- all samples correlated with high rain- 972-8937, or email [email protected]. M synthetic polymers in water ment plants are discharged into the bay. fall events occurring within a week be- and sediments. Other textile degradation processes fore sampling. Address label change? During the last five years, much of may also contribute some of the micro- The correlation between greater If your mailing label is inaccurate or incomplete, please the available microplastic contamina- plastics. microplastic fiber abundance and rain- contact us with the correct information at Post Office Box tion data has come from studies in The researchers found that “intense fall was seen in samples taken from both 2175, Goldenrod, FL 32733; fax (321) 972-8937; or e-mail [email protected]. We appreciate your help with which investigators found microplastics rainfall events in the summer always keeping our circulation database accurate. and, in some cases, identified the chemi- preceded samples with substantially MICROPLASTICS cal composition and/or origin of the par- higher counts” of microplastics. Continued on Page 14 ticles found. A recently-published study of microplastics in Tampa Bay added con- A look back at highlights from FRC 2019 centration numbers to the marine By ROY LAUGHLIN mental Protection Agency would stick PAID microplastics narrative for the first time. to its proposed regulatory schedule, PERMIT 1556 ORLANDO, FL U.S. POSTAGE Researchers collected 4.5 ± 2.5

Presorted Standard RC 2019’s perfluorinated com- even after tasking its Office of Water microplastic particles per cubic meter pounds session was provocative with the lead on the PFOA initiative an- of water. In sediment, the concentration F this year as the focus shifted from nounced this spring. was much greater, 600 pieces of curating and reviewing existing infor- Another take-away from Buechler’s microplastic per pound of dry sediment, mation to a more critical analysis of talk is that the ubiquitous PFOA com- or 280 ± 290 particles per cubic meter recent research and plans for standard- pounds often co-occur at contaminated of sediment. setting and cleanup techniques. sites with plasticizers. PFOA com- Researchers sampled 24 sites around The session’s first speaker, Karla pounds’ resistance to chemical destruc- Tampa Bay. They calculated that there Buechler, corporate technical director tion may make site remediation of are about three trillion pieces of at Eurofins TestAmerica in West Sac- mixed media contamination a much microplastics in the sediment and one ramento, CA, characterized current ana- more complex technical operation. trillion pieces in the water, totaling lytical methods as “archaic.” If the expected low cleanup targets about four trillion particles throughout The U.S. Environmental Protection are eventually established, reaching the the ecosystem. Agency has an analytical method for necessary levels will become still more Small pieces of synthetic textile drinking water that is minimally reli- challenging.

P.O. Box 2175 P.O. Goldenrod, FL 32733 threads were the dominant microplastic able and will bias results toward the William Kerfoot, PhD, principal material found—more than 75 percent lower end. of all microplastic particles collected in In response to a question, Buechler FRC CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED 1912 CHANGE SERVICE the bay. said she doubted that the U.S. Environ- Continued on Page 15 EPA delays rule for coal ash impoundment cleanup, residuals management

Staff report disposal standards will be extended to 2028. Wastewater, in this case, refers to In November, the U.S. Environmental water drawn from the ash pits to prevent Protection Agency announced it will de- overflowing. Rain events are often the lay electric utilities’ compliance deadlines cause of pit overflows. for coal impoundments and rules for the Impoundment water from these pits can handling of coal ash residuals. be used or recycled to scrub solids from The rule, passed in 2015 during flue gas. the Obama administration, is in- The 2015 rule required 100 tended to prevent the contami- percent recycling of ash pit wa- nation of ground and surface ter. The delay until 2028 is con- waters. It requires that lined tingent upon impoundment op- disposal pits not be in contact erators demonstrating that they with aquifers for long-term are taking voluntary measures storage. It also restricts the use to prevent chemical contami- of coal ash for fill dirt and simi- nants such as arsenic and mer- lar uses. cury from escaping the storage The proposed rule delay impoundments. will give most coal ash produc- The Trump administration, ers until Aug. 31, 2020, to shut in response to industry pres- down or retrofit unlined ash sure, initially proposed to de- pits. lay rules until some unspeci- For some facilities, the new fied future date. A court deci- rule proposes an additional three years to sion last year required EPA to formally de- meet impoundment requirements. fine a schedule for utilities to meet the de- The new rule also affects wastewater layed deadlines. handling at coal plants and impoundments. The New York Times reported that EPA The deadline to meet new wastewater estimated the rule affects about 1,000 coal pits and ash ponds, and thousands of addi- tional sites where ash has been buried. Re- searchers have found that the vast major- ity of these coal pits leach contaminants to some extent to nearby groundwater or PFAS Forum surface waters. A recent study by Avner Vengosh, PhD, professor of earth and ocean sciences at April 22-24, 2020 Duke University, looked at the release of coal ash contaminants in three different U.S. regions where coal is mined and thus is a primary electricity-generating fuel. Renaissance Tampa International His research demonstrated extensive Plaza Hotel mobilization of arsenic, selenium and chro- mium-6, the toxic form of that element. Tampa, Florida Vengosh noted that extensive coal ash re- leases to surface water raises the water’s pH, making the toxic forms of those ele- ments more abundant. His research, as well as comments from environmental advocacy organizations such as Earthjustice, criticized the 2019 proposed rule delay noting that the unre- stricted placement of coal ash for proposed “allowable beneficial uses” will contami- nate surface water, groundwater and drink- ing water sources with dangerously el- evated levels of toxic elements leaching Forum Purpose: from the ash. Florida has few operating coal-fired To educate the environmental/remediation power plants left in full operation. This new rule will affect those recently closed by perhaps extending the deadline for industry and regulatory community owners to clean up coal ash impound- ments, and find beneficial uses for the ash on the potential risks from PFAS, from the unlined pits and closed plants.

as well as discuss regulatory War on science continues: More ad- visory panels disbanded. This summer, and legal issues, monitoring, the Trump administration announced its in- tention to reduce by one third the number of environmental committees advising dif- treatment, cleanup ferent departments and agencies. The an- nouncement came with guidelines that set and disposal technologies. an October, 2019, implementation date. Two of the final advisory committees were shuttered at the end of September. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee, established in 2003, is no longer funded. The second, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Invasive Species Advisory Com- mittee that has been in operation for about a decade, was also disbanded. These committees were largely com- posed of scientists, including government scientists, and academics. A NOAA spokesperson said that the work provided by its now defunct Marine Protected Areas committee would be pro- vided by other surviving advisory boards responsible for similar efforts. The other committee, Interior’s Inva- sive Species Advisory Council, had a very https://pfasforum.org significant focus: the prevention of inva- sive species passage through U.S. ports of

FEDFILE Continued on Page 12

2 December 2019/January 2020 Florida Specifier FPL’s SolarTogether takes another step towards Staff report Panama City are a unique type to Florida,” P.O. Box 2175 implementation Goldenrod, FL 32733 said Olivia Atkins of Pensacola-based Phone: (407) 671-7777 Florida Power & Light Co.’s plan to inside the 100-year flood plain of Wetappo Earth Ethics Inc. “They are known as san- Fax: (321) 972-8937 launch the largest community solar pro- Creek. During major flood events, the drill- dhill prairies. These areas have various www.enviro-net.com gram in the country, SolarTogether, re- ing pads would be surrounded by water wildlife that are indigenous to the land and ceived a boost this fall. flowing to Wetappo Creek, East Bay and have now become either threatened or en- A joint motion was filed between FPL, St. Andrew Bay.” dangered because of the constant devel- the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Spooner Petroleum is a royalty partner opment.” MICHAEL R. EASTMAN Publisher/Editor Vote Solar and Walmart revising the with Bear Creek Timber LLC, which is the [email protected] utility’s program tariff to increase the ben- owner of the underlying land at the pro- McKay Bay WTE plant operations. efit for all customers, allocating an in- posed drilling site. Spooner also owns 12 The city of Tampa is taking over opera- creased share of the system’s benefit to square miles of wetlands and uplands tion of the McKay Bay waste-to-energy customers that choose not to participate. around that plant from Wheelabrator who has operated Contributing writers and columnists If the agreement is approved by the site, noted the the plant for roughly three decades. The Florida Public Service Commission, FPL advocates. city notified employees of the GORDON DEAN, PE plans to install 1,490 megawatts of new This fact change in October. Vice President solar at 20 new power plants within their makes drill- The turnover is anticipated Advanced Environmental Technologies LLC ing in wet- Tallahassee, FL service territory over the next two years. to be complete by mid-2020. FPL estimates the program will gener- lands in the Current employees are ex- BLANCHE HARDY, PG ate an estimated $139 million in net sav- floodplain pected to retain their jobs. Environmental Correspondent ings for customers over the long term. entirely inappropriate, especially The decision is financial. The Sanford, FL According to the utility, participating in light of the availability of direc- city anticipates an annual savings tional drilling. ROY LAUGHLIN customers will receive a direct credit on of $5 million. Environmental Correspondent their monthly bills. Customers may sub- There is no proven or indicated like- The McKay Bay plant pro- Rockledge, FL scribe to the program in kilowatt incre- lihood of recovering commercially prof- cesses in excess of 360,000 tons of ments up to their annual kilowatt-per-hour itable quantities of oil or gas and, in any municipal solid waste annually. The ROBERT KNIGHT, PHD household load. event, the infrastructure needed to man- conversion of the waste to energy gener- Executive Director The customer will then receive an in- age oil production would be extremely ill- ates enough electrical power to supply up Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute suited to the wetlands of Gulf County, op- High Springs, FL crease in kilowatt credit value over time. FPL anticipates that subscribers will re- ponents said. NOTES alize an economic benefit on their bills in “The natural forests surrounding Continued on Page 13 the seventh year of their subscription. SolarTogether is another step in the state’s slowly developing effort to take the lead in U.S. solar power. SACE projected that Florida will leap- (888)815-9119 frog the current regional leader, North www.horizonllc.net Carolina, in total solar development in 2021 based on announced solar commit- ments. Vacuum Truck Services | Soil & Water Disposal DEP moves to approve controversial Drum Transportation & Disposal | Emergency Response drilling. In late October, the Florida De- partment of Environment Protection issued Servicing the Southeastern U.S. notices of intent for well drilling permit requests #1374 through #1379 to Cholla A Waste Management Company Petroleum Inc. for oil and gas drilling in Calhoun County. You Can Rely On. The proposed Cholla wells are explor- atory. Should oil and gas be found in suf- ficient quantity for production, additional permitting would be required. The proposed wells are located be- tween Dead Lakes and the Apalachicola River approximately four miles southwest of Marysville. Cholla intends to advance the wells to between approximately 13,500 and 14,200 feet. DEP received numerous complaints from citizens and environmental advocates requesting denial of the permits due to the sensitive nature of the ecology in the Apalachicola River Basin and the wells’ potential impact on potable surface and The Florida Specifier makes every effort to groundwater supplies. ensure the accuracy and validity of all edito- The Apalachicola Riverkeeper submit- rial and advertising content. The newspaper is independent in its views and does not sup- ted comments to DEP opposing the wells port, endorse or guarantee any data, state- noting that the Apalachicola River Basin ments or opinions that appear under any is the most environmentally sensitive un- reference or are attributed to or quoted from disturbed floodplain ecosystem in the state. any known source. The views expressed by The river is designated as an Outstanding authors do not necessarily reflect the views Florida Water. of NTCC Inc. or the Florida Specifier. “The risk of damage to water quality, Orlando The Florida Specifier (ISSN 0740-1973), biologic and geologic integrity of the eco- founded in 1979, is published each month system from oil drilling far exceeds any for $24.95 per year ($49.95 for three years) benefits that a small number of property by National Technical Communications Co., owners and an oil company will gain,” Inc., P.O. Box 2175, Goldenrod, FL 32733. wrote the Riverkeeper. “These (wells) are Subscription refunds are not provided. not in the public interest for those of us Standard postage paid at Orlando, FL 32862. that use and care for the Apalachicola River POSTMASTER: Send address changes to and Bay.” the FLORIDA SPECIFIER, P.O. Box 2175, Earlier in October, DEP had issued a Goldenrod, FL 32733. notice of intent to issue exploratory well permit #1393 to Spooner Petroleum for oil © Copyright 2019 by National Technical and gas drilling in northern Gulf County. Communications Co. Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro- Spooner intends to drill approximately duced or transmitted in any form without the 2.6 miles northwest of Wetappo in unin- publisher’s prior written permission. corporated Gulf County. They propose to drill to approximately 12,900 feet. This project was also opposed by many residents and environmental advocates www.enviro-net.com who petitioned DEP to deny the permits in the ecologically sensitive region. “The drilling pad would be located in a wetlands tributary to Wetappo Creek, a perennial stream tributary to East Bay, the eastern bay of St. Andrew Bay,” said the P.O. Box 2175 • Goldenrod, FL 32733 (407) 671-7777 • Fax (321) 972-8937 Apalachicola Riverkeeper and Healthy- [email protected] Gulf. “It would also be located entirely

Florida Specifier December 2019/January 2020 3 SWFWMD adopts reduced flow rates for Homosassa, Chassahowitzka rivers Staff report flow reductions could increase to 7.77 cu- the board’s October meeting. According rights of local residents. If the referenda bic feet per second, a five percent flow to local news accounts, the meeting was pass as envisioned, these new laws and In late October, the Southwest Florida reduction. heavily attended by residents opposed to policies would bar state preemption of lo- Water Management District Governing With water conservation and reuse, the the approved reductions, a decision that cal laws and natural resource protection Board adopted new minimum flow rates projected 2035 flows could be reduced by essentially allows more groundwater with- policies. for the Homosassa and Chassahowitzka only 6.70 cubic feet—even if it were le- drawals that would lead to reduced flow. These efforts are similar to the Lake rivers. The new rates allow minimum flow gally allowed to be reduced more. One point of criticism was that only Erie Bill of Rights passed in Toledo, OH, reductions of eight percent for the For Chassahowitzka Springs, flow re- seven members of what should be a 13- earlier this year. In Florida, the groups pro- Chassahowitzka and five percent for the duction due to groundwater withdrawals member board made the decision. posing new rules for each of the named Homosassa, replacing the three percent re- in 2015 was 2.85 cubic feet per second. Currently, six board positions are va- ecosystems are coordinating their activi- duction established for both in 2015. By 2035, flow reduction will increase to cant. ties, but are otherwise operating separately. In terms of volumes, in 2015 the three 4.13 cubic feet per second, but could be percent reduction amounted to 4.86 cubic only 3.48 cubic feet per second with con- New phospho- Solar powered feet per second at Homosassa Springs. But servation and reuse. rus removal facil- WWTP. In Octo- under the new minimum flow standard, The new flow rates were approved at ity. The Fleming ber, the city of Island Regional Marianna’s waste- Wastewater Treat- water treatment ment Facility in plant began opera- Clay County broke tion powered only ground on con- by direct-current struction of a treatment train process to solar photovoltaic electricity generating remove phosphorus from its effluent be- systems. fore reuse or sprayfield disposal. The completed project included two Now under construction is a 40,000- photovoltaic arrays. A 1.9-megawatt solar square-foot media bed, a bioreactor with array powers the 12-acre wastewater treat- sand and organic matter. ment plant and a smaller 400-kilowatt DC According to officials with the Sustain- facility powers an eight-acre wastewater able Water Investment Group, treated ef- sprayfield. fluent will be pumped and distributed over In addition to the installation of 7,000 What’s in solar panels, the project included installa- What’s in a vegetated filtration bed that uses engi- neered media to remove phosphorus. tion of five transformers and 35 inverters. The media binds with phosphorous, The two photovoltaic arrays combined youryour water?water? removing it from the water. The phospho- will provide up to 2,300 kilowatts of elec- rus remains bound to the engineered me- tricity to operate the facilities. dia, so no byproduct is produced. Electricity accounts for about 23 per- The project is a full-scale pilot dem- cent of the wastewater utility’s operations AskAsk us!us! onstration. The St. Johns River Water budget. Utility officials are hoping for an- Management District provided $1.5 mil- nual savings of $325,000 through the use lion in funding, which the Florida Legis- of photovoltaic arrays. lature appropriated in 2018 for the project. PCI Solar was the project’s prime con- The project’s ultimate goal is to reduce tractor. David H. Melvin Inc. provided the phosphorus inflows to Doctors Lake. Over project engineering. Total project cost was the past several years, the lake has experi- $4.6 million. enced up to 10 algal blooms annually. The Florida Department of Environ- mental Protection provided a loan for the construction, with 80 percent of that for- Laboratories across the state Ecosystem rights could protect natu- ral resources. Across Florida, progressive givable and a 20-year repayment for the handling all of your advocacy groups are proposing county- remaining 20 percent. environmental, waste wide and regional laws that recognize le- and drinking water sampling and drinking water sampling gally enforceable rights for designated Deltona to audit water utility spend- and analyses and analyses ecosystems. ing. Deltona city commissioners hired ac- Grassroot efforts are underway in Bre- counting firm KPMG to review their wa- 407•339•5984 vard, Osceola, Orange, Alachua and Lee ter utility operations including customer www.flowerslabs.com counties focused on the Indian River La- service and billing, water treatment and goon, Santa Fe River, Wekiva River, distribution, wastewater, financial plan- Econlockhatchee River, Caloosahatchee ning and management, and human capital River and Kissimmee River. management. Rather than rely on legislators to carry The audit arose due to customer com- the banner, these progressive groups are plaints about unexplained billing spikes, working through citizens’ initiative pro- high rates and other controversial practices SinceSince 19571957 cesses or through county charter review at Deltona’s water utilities. commissions. One resident spearheaded the forma- They are proposing “rights of nature” tion of Deltona Strong, a public advocacy recognition and laws that promote a group that was joined by a sufficiently healthy environment and clean water as large number of Deltona residents to get the attention of staffers at State Represen- tative David Santiago’s office. The representative’s office then be- came involved when Santiago formed and led the Citizen Water Committee. Deltona officials approved $191,437 for the audit due in December.

St. Lucie County water quality projects. Three new projects have been funded in St. Lucie County that will im- prove water quality in the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. The Florida Department of Environ- mental Protection underwrote construction of a stormwater treatment area along Melville Road in White City to reduce nutrient inflows into the North Fork of the A Full Service Water Well Contracting Company St. Lucie River. A second project, the Richard E. Becker Preserve River Restoration, will re- Specializing in Geoprobe® soil and groundwater sampling, bioremediation injections, store an oxbow in the North Fork of the St. Lucie River by removing a plug block- monitoring well construction and abandonment. ing flow to the river’s natural flood plain. Fleet of 15 Geoprobe® Machines Serving All of Florida A stormwater buffer to reduce flood- Fleet of 13 Geoprobe® Machines serving all of Florida ing and prevent muck accumulation down- (5400 Truck(5400 Mounted, Truck Mounted, 54LT Track 54LT Mounted, Track 6600 Mounted, Track/Truck 6600 Mounted, Track/Truck 6610/6620 Mounted, Track Mounted) stream will also be constructed. 6610/6620 Track Mounted, 7822 Truck Mounted Probes) The project received $216,922 for per- mitting, design and construction. The Call or email for services today! Florida Department of Environmental Pro- Phone: (954) 476-8333 Fax: (954) 476-8347 tection will fund the remaining $700,000 E-mail [email protected] or visit us on the web at www.JAEEenv.com for construction. WATCH Continued on Page 5

4 December 2019/January 2020 Florida Specifier New solar-powered wastewater treatment system ready for prime time

By BLANCHE HARDY. PG years to find a solution to global sanita- acronym for nutrient, energy and water, NEWgenerator to be showcased at last tion concerns. was undertaken in part through a $1.14 year’s Reinvented Toilet Expo in Beijing, aniel Yeh, PhD, PE, a professor in The result of their work is a solar-pow- million Bill and Melinda Gates Founda- China. Many technologies are showcased the University of South Florida’s ered wastewater treatment system that gen- tion grant under the Gates’ Reinvented in the Reinvented Toilet program, but only DCollege of Engineering, and his re- erates energy, nutrients and potable water. Toilet program. a chosen few are selected to present at the search team have been working for five Development of the NEWgenerator, an The Gates Foundation selected USF’s annual exposition. “In addition to partners who can help WATCH infrastructure project to raise the levees In September, the system was tested us scale the NEWgenerator for use in From Page 4 along the north shore of the lake. The when Hurricane Dorian dropped signifi- crowded, dense urban settings, we are also Elsewhere, the Comprehensive Ever- impoundment created will hold more cant rainfall in the watershed. The culverts keen to connect with the humanitarian and glades Restoration Plan funded the Teague water for treatment, particularly after were closed to divert water and no flood- emergency sectors,” said lead investigator Hammock Hydrologic Restoration Project major rain events. ing occurred on U.S. 441. Yeh. “Some of the same challenges we see to restore and help preserve a 300-acre The new pump station will allow wa- The improvements were jointly funded across the globe are found also in the U.S, wetland for storage and water quality im- ter managers to move water to the higher by DEP and the St. Johns River Water especially after disasters. We would like provement of agricultural runoff before it levels created by the rebuilt levees. Management District, which provided to do something about that.” enters the St. Lucie River. The district expects the new treatment $500,000 and $288,000, respectively, to The NEWgenerator provides an alter- Teague Hammock was purchased for process to remove the 143 pounds of phos- cover the total cost of $788,000. native to pit latrines or septic tanks and preservation with Florida Forever funds. phorus per year from Lake Apopka. can treat large quantities of wastewater to The restoration efforts will be funded with Bonita Springs Utility recognized. a high quality in a compact space, some- $600,000. Paynes Prairie flood protection. Dur- Bonita Springs Utility received the Florida thing neither latrines nor septic tanks can The total cost of these three projects is ing the past several years, stormwater from Water and Pollution Control Operators accomplish, Yeh explained. $2.3 million. Paynes Prairie has flooded U.S. Highway Association Utility of the Year Award for “It eliminates the need for building 441. During the past several months, a its outstanding safety record. sewers and large centralized wastewater Two ag projects receive major control structure with two gated culverts The award acknowledges the safety treatment plants, which are exorbitantly grants. Marineland Aquaponics in Putnam that diverts water from Newnan’s Lake and record for Bonita Springs Utilities collec- expensive and disruptive in most places,” County and C.P. Wesley Smith in St. Johns Prairie Creek to Camp Canal has been re- tion system, distribution system, water he said. “A big customer pain point in de- County will each receive $222,734 from built. treatment plant, and East and West Water veloping countries is the high cost of fre- the St. Johns River Water Management If high rainfall is expected or occurs, Reclamation facilities. quent desludging from pit latrines. District for projects to benefit water sup- closing the gates will divert water to Camp The utility serves the city of Bonita ply and quality in the St. Johns River. Canal along the east side of Paynes Prai- Springs, the village of Estero and areas in WASTEWATER Marineland Aquaponics will use its rie and eventually to Lake Orange. unincorporated southern Lee County. Continued on Page 14 grant to fund the second phase of a closed circulation aquaponics system at its facil- ity. C.P. Wesley Smith will use its funding to install additional sub-irrigation drain tiles. The tiles will replace a traditional seepage irrigation system. Both projects are intended to conserve water and reduce nutrient leaching to sur- face waters. In the case of Wesley Smith operations, earlier sub-irrigation drain tile conversions decreased irrigation water consumption by 51 percent. Total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads decreased by 30 percent and 43 percent, respectively. Total nitrogen load reduction for the two projects combined is expected to be 32,642 pounds per year. Phosphorus is expected to decline by 4,671 pounds per year. Water use by the two farms is ex- pected to fall by 1.41 million gallons. The Florida Department of Environ- mental Protection funds the program and Water is the top issue for the district administers the grants, includ- ing recipient selection. Florida’s future, and Drying Up is a must-read primer. More funding for conservation projects. The SJRWMD Governing Board —CRAIG PITTMAN also approved 13 agricultural projects to author of The Scent of Scandal receive cost-share funding to improve water conservation and nutrient reduction. “ The funding supports fertilizer appli- cation conversion, tailwater recovery and upress.ufl .edu • 800.226.3822 • @fl oridapress reuse, GPS-controlled land-forming tech- UNIVERSITY PRESS of FLORIDA nology, installation of polypropylene groundcover and weather stations, and other irrigation improvements that increase the efficient use of water. Five Lake County applicants received funding, the most of any county in the dis- trict. Indian River County applicants fol- lowed closely with four successful appli- cants. Two applicants in Marion County were funded. One each in Brevard and Orange counties rounded out the tally of funded applicants. The projects will share $1.56 million. In approving the grants, SJRWMD es- timated that the funding would conserve 2.37 million gallons of water per day, re- duce total nitrogen releases by 38,222 pounds per year and total phosphorus re- leases by 5,483 pounds per year. The agricultural cost-share program began in 2015 and is now beginning its fifth year. Over that time, it has supported 85 partnership projects. This year, the district received 22 ap- plications in 15 counties. The projects were competitively evaluated and ranked, and the top 13 approved for funding.

Lake Apopka North Shore project begins. In October, the SJRWMD Govern- ing Board awarded Intercounty Construc- tion Inc. a contract to build a pump station in support of the district’s Lake Apopka North Shore project. The pumping station is part of a larger

Florida Specifier December 2019/January 2020 5 Microbubble harvesting a potent tool for managing harmful algae blooms By ROY LAUGHLIN wastewater in treatment plants is well-es- colorless and clear. It is a convincing dem- ters provides multiple benefits. tablished. AECOM engineers developed a onstration that any evangelist would ap- For the Lake Okeechobee treatment team of AECOM engineers and sci- modestly sized mobile demonstration sys- preciate. demonstration, AECOM added an ozone entists think they have an effective, tem and have been touring the state and, This summer, AECOM engineers dem- generator to oxidize microcystin, the A affordable technology to harvest more recently, around the U.S. onstrated the system near one of Lake cyanobacteria’s toxin, in water after har- cyanobacteria, particularly Microcystis, AECOM posted a video online that Okeechobee’s outflow structures in Moore vesting Microcystis cells. when cyanobacteria bloom in Lake shows microbubble flotation of microal- Haven. Typically, cells Okeechobee or elsewhere. gae from a glass flask. Within seconds of Although a are three to five per- They use microbubbles to sequester microbubble generation, a microalgae floc thick algal bloom DEP seeks bloom solutions cent phosphate and cyanobacteria cells in a surface floc that is covers the surface of the water in the flask. was not in progress perhaps two to easily skimmed from the water. As the bubbles rise to the surface, the at the time, the The Florida Department of Envi- three times that in The use of microbubbles to clarify water in the flask is seen to be virtually demonstration was ronmental Protection is another pos- organic nitrogen. a success. sible end-user of AECOM’s harvester “Luxury consump- Dan Levy, vice technology. tion” of nutrients president of the DEP’ potential involvement is out- under eutrophic firm’s environmen- lined in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Execu- conditions makes tal business line in tive Order 12-19. In it, he authorized some bacteria cells the Americas, ex- the establishment of the Blue-Green microsponges that plained the concept Algae Task Force. sop up nutrients. as attacking nutri- The task force is charged with Harvesting ents at their source identifying projects for funding based cyanobacteria cells by using mobile on scientific data and implementing by microbubble flo- harvesters on land nutrient reduction in key state water tation is potentially or boats. And when bodies, as well as making recommen- capable of remov- needed, the harvest- dations for regulatory changes. ing substantial ers can be used to DEP released two RFIs to identify masses of phos- respond to blooms additional nutrient reduction projects phate and organic when and where within the Lake Okeechobee basin. nitrogen. We turn specialty waste into they episodically RFIs for projects for the Caloosa- Levy said his occur. hatchee and St. Lucie BMAP rivers are colleagues made a recycling opportunities. AECOM’s July expected to be issued. few simplifying as- demonstration in While there is no funding available sumptions about Lake Okeechobee now for projects submitted in response phosphorus inflow was the culmination to these RFIs, projects listed in the up- into Lake Okeecho- dated BMAPs will be targeted for fu- With over 30 fixed-base locations and of a year of collabo- bee via its four ma- rative research be- ture funding. jor tributaries, pri- new mobile service solutions, Clean Earth tween AECOM, the If DEP becomes involved in harm- marily using South provides exceptional recycling and disposal U.S. Army Corp. of ful algal bloom control, the amount of Florida Water Man- Engineers and the funding available for cyanobacteria agement District solutions across the country for all your U.S. Army Engi- management could potentially be sub- water quality and specialty waste needs. neering Research stantial and persistent. flow data from Design Center’s 2017. HABITATS pro- Based on four Reliable | Expert | Solutions gram. 10-million-gallon-per-day treatment plants The demonstration was the first step in servicing each of Lake Okeechobee’s ma- what AECOM engineers and scientists jor tributaries, the treatment facilities could hope will lead to the construction of 10- collectively remove 115 tons of phospho- Soil Treatment & Recycling million-gallon-per-day filtration plants ad- rus per year. This would be about a quar- jacent to Lake Okeechobee’s four major ter of the 468 tons of phosphorus that the Dredged Material Processing tributaries. four tributaries contribute to Lake & Beneficial Reuse Water will be treated to remove Okeechobee. Microcystis, other cyanobacteria and the If a treatment plant was placed only on nutrients they have bioaccumulated. This Taylor Creek-Nubbin Slough and treated Hazardous & Non-Hazardous could make a major contribution toward 10 million gallons annually, 54 tons of Waste Recycling & Disposal eliminating cyanobacteria blooms before phosphorus would be removed according they start. to researchers’ calculations, Levy noted. Including Electronic, Universal, The immediate need driving the devel- AECOM’s R&D staff have put a lot of & Healthcare Waste opment of HAB exclusion or removal from thought into how to dispose of what could water releases from Lake Okeechobee is be hundreds of thousands of pounds of to prevent human, animal and wildlife ex- dried biomass that would be similar to a posure to their toxins. low-concentration fertilizer. AECOM’s capability to remove the Levy said they have gone beyond hy- Contact Us for a Quote Today! entire cell, its toxins and bioassimilated pothetical scenarios. AECOM has a work- 877.445.3478 | cleanearthinc.com nutrients taken up from the eutrophic wa- ing agreement with Algix LLC of Merid- ian, MS. Their Bloom line includes a com- mercial process to make polymer foams from algal products. The company uses the How do you keep up with all algal foams to make shoes. This process is actively commercialized. In addition, harvested algae may be that’s going on in Florida? converted to biofuel, another commercially active technology. The Florida Specifier provides bi-monthly news coverage of the environ- To enhance the mobility of their mental issues that matter the most—water resources, supply and distribu- cyanobacteria harvester, AECOM engi- tion; soil and groundwater remediation; wastewater treatment and reuse; neers developed the concept of floating a hazardous waste management; stormwater management; air quality and harvester on a barge pulled by boats trail- much more. There’s just no better way to keep up with what’s happening in ing booms shunting cyanobacteria to the your industy. algal harvester intake. They proposed that such a harvester could essentially eliminate cyanobacteria blooms in Lake Okeechobee’s offshore Subscribe today! areas. That could stop a developing bloom from becoming a crisis. AECOM’s project and its demonstrated Name: ______capability is an interesting contrast. The Title: ______basic mechanism has been in use for the Company: ______better part of a century. But its use to se- quester cyanobacteria and bioassimilated Address: ______nutrients is novel. City: ______St: _____ Zip: ______The engineering exercise to design Phone: ______both fixed facilities and mobile platforms is an extension of the technology that so far has largely been developed for closed systems in industry, or semi-closed stages Send $24.95 for one year (six issues) or $49.95 for three years to: NTCC of wastewater treatment. Inc., P.O. Box 2175, Goldenrod, FL 32733. Or subscribe online at The mobile microbubble harvesters www.enviro-net.com/florida-specifier/subscribe/. have prospects to become widely used for (NTCC Inc. Federal Tax ID: #59-3036689) harmful algal bloom prevention and con- trol in surface waters.

6 December 2019/January 2020 Florida Specifier EWG releases latest data on quality of America’s drinking water By BLANCHE HARDY, PG ist at all. people had the largest number of violations ating standards for contaminates with no “The federal drinking water standards with 67 for 12 total contaminants. Two federal limit or limits considered by EWG he Environmental Working Group have not been updated in decades and the contaminants, radium and total trihalo- to be too weak to ensure safety. released its 2019 Tap Water Data- regulatory process does not take into con- methanes, exceeded EWG health guide- For example, the federal standard for Tbase of compiled water utility data sideration the heightened vulnerability to lines. barium is two parts per million, while the throughout the country. The database has toxic chemicals on children, infants and Among the largest Florida utilities EWG recommended standard is 0.7 ppm been published annually since 2005. the developing fetus,” said the report. listed as having exceeded standards are due to evidence that barium exposure may The current report, on-line at the EWG Many chemical contaminants known to Palm Beach County Utilities with 529,876 result in high blood pressure and harm to website, is searchable by zip code. It in- pose risks lack enforceable federal health people served and 13 violation points, the the kidneys, heart and blood vessels. cludes data collected in 2016 and 2017. standards, leaving the public susceptible city of Cocoa with 285,352 people served More dramatically, the federal standard “Since 2012, water utility testing has to harm from tap water, the report noted. and 14 violation points, and the city of Fort for trihalomethanes is 80 parts per billion, found pollutants in Americans’ tap water, The report included data on 1,617 Lauderdale with 182,145 people served but the EWG recommended standard is according to an EWG drinking water qual- Florida utilities serving 19,730,000 cus- and six violation points. 0.15 ppb due to evidence that trihalomethane ity analysis of 32 million state water tomers. EWG found 96 contaminants in the Other EWG-listed Florida utilities with exposure may result in bladder and skin records,” the report noted. records compiled in Florida. violations serving approximately 100,000 cancer, and harm to fetal growth and de- EWG said that although water provid- During the reporting period from April, people include the TOHO Water Author- velopment. ers may be compliant with current water 2012, through March, 2017, 30 large ity, Martin County Utilities, Clearwater “We want you to know the whole story quality standards, many of the standards Florida utilities accumulated or accrued the Water Systems, and North Miami Beach. about what’s in your tap water,” said EWG are decades old and may be outdated. And most violation points. Thirty smaller Florida utilities accumu- President and Co-founder Ken Cook. “Our standards for some contaminants found to- Of these, the R.C. Willis Water Treat- lated or accrued the most violation points tap water database has information from day in the public water supply may not ex- ment Plant in Palatka serving 11,900 in the reporting period from April, 2016, nearly 50,000 local utilities in every state. through March, 2019. The information includes about everything Of these, River Grove Mobile Home their test found in your community’s drink- Energy efficiency jobs abundant Village serving 432 residents had the larg- ing water. We don’t just tell you what they est number of violations with 88 for eight found, we tell you what it means—how the nationwide, still on the upswing total contaminants. chemicals in your tap water can harm your EWG developed their own “no com- health.” By ROY LAUGHLIN tion category’s national ranking. Florida’s promise” safety standards using current The EWG database also includes a second category by numbers of jobs, pro- independent scientific evidence, legal stan- guide to help users pick a water filter that he energy efficiency sector provides fessional services, has just 1,302 jobs. dards and health advisories, including cre- is right for their drinking water. a significant source of employment, According to the report, Florida’s small T both nationally and in Florida. Em- businesses dominate the energy efficiency ployment in this sector increased nation- sector. Those with one to five employees wide to 2,324,865 in 2017, the most re- comprise 40 percent of all energy effi- cent year for which statistics are available. ciency businesses. An additional 35 per- Energy efficiency job growth of 76,000 cent are in businesses with six to 19 em- jobs led the broader energy sector that ployees. weighed in at total job growth of 151,700. Businesses with more than 100 em- In 41 states, energy efficiency jobs pro- ployees comprise a meager five percent of vide more work than the entire U.S. fossil Florida’s energy efficiency workforce. fuel industry. And nationwide, twice as More than three quarters of Florida’s coun- many jobs are in energy efficiency than in ties have between six and 10 workers per the fossil fuel industry. 1,000 workers employed in the energy ef- The construction industry employs ficiency fields. 1.29 million workers, 56 percent of all The growth rate of Florida’s energy workers in the energy efficiency category efficiency jobs accelerated in the most re- nationwide. cent two years of reported data. In 2016, In 2017, Florida maintained its fourth- employment growth rate was 3.6 percent. place ranking with 118,412 jobs. Only In 2017, it grew markedly to 5.1 percent. California, Texas and New York, ranked Florida’s broader statewide growth first through third, respectively, produced rates were 3.7 percent and five percent in more energy efficiency jobs. 2016 and 2017, respectively, according to The energy efficiency workforce in- the Florida’s Office of Economic and De- cludes a variety of industries and disci- mographic Research. plines that make energy use more efficient. More than three quarters of Florida’s They include Energy Star appliance manu- counties have between six and 10 workers facture; light emitting diode, compact flo- per 1,000 workers employed in the energy rescent lighting and other efficient light- efficiency fields. ing systems; both traditional and high-ef- The information presented here comes ficiency heating and cooling; advanced from the 2019 Energy Efficiency Jobs in materials and installation; recycled build- America report, an annual summary of 800.532.5008 ing materials; water efficiency products; employment in the energy efficiency sec- and a general category dubbed “others.” tor prepared by E2 and E4theFuture. The CUSTOMDRILLING.NET The term “energy efficiency” as used data comes primarily from the 2017 U.S. here applies to industries as well as posi- Energy and Employment Report. 100 Kid Ellis Road | Mulberry, Florida 33860 | PH: 863.425.9600 | FAX: 863.425.9620 tions within industries, according to one of the report’s caveats. In other words, an architectural firm may have a section that focuses on energy efficient design and con- struction, even if the firm’s primary activ- ity is not energy efficiency design alone. Nationwide, 28 percent of energy workers are involved in energy efficiency jobs. The nation’s top 25 metro areas em- ploy over 900,000 energy efficiency work- ers. Even with that urban workforce con- centration, nearly all counties in the coun- try have workers employed in energy effi- ciency jobs of one kind or another. Florida’s energy efficiency jobs spec- trum by industry varies a little from that nationwide: 41,381 of Florida’s energy efficiency jobs are in HVAC. Energy Star appliances and efficient lighting rank second with 32,499 jobs. Closely following in third place is build- ing materials and insulation with 31,455 energy efficiency workers. The “others” category adds another 13,077 positions. The report also recasts employment data by supply chain category. By this clas- sification, Florida’s largest category is con- struction and repairs. It accounts for more than three quarters of all of Florida’s en- ergy efficiency jobs at 118,412. This proportion, which mirror’s the construction industry’s dominance in Florida, is far greater than the construc-

Florida Specifier December 2019/January 2020 7 Innovative treatment technology addresses problematic petroleum contamination By GORDON DEAN, PE bioremediation system was removed and mained above cleanup target levels. The injections were completed using post-active remediation monitoring of Monitoring Well 8 was particularly direct push technology and started at 20 multi-use convenience store site lo- groundwater began. concerning because it is offsite, downgra- feet below ground surface and stopped at cated in Panama City Beach, FL, Advanced Environmental Technolo- dient of the source area, and contained the 10 feet bgs. A was impacted by contamination gies LLC became the consultant of record highest contaminant concentrations asso- The direct push rod was driven to the from a leaking underground storage tank. for the site in September, 2015, under a ciated with the site. terminus depth of 20 feet and a pump was The site formerly dispensed gasoline performance-based cleanup contract. AET Interested in a more effective solution, used to inject the chemical through the drill and had three 6,000-gallon USTs in use prepared a remedial action plan modifica- AET sought a technology that was afford- rod as the rod was lifted in two-foot incre- from 1988 to 2007. tion to address the residual groundwater able and would be guaranteed to lower the ments. During an annual storage tank site in- contamination. contaminant levels below the target lev- The injections were completed at pres- spection in 2007, the middle tank, UST-2, The RAP modification called for injec- els. To achieve this, AET partnered with sures of approximately 10 to 50 pounds failed a tightness test and exhibited prod- tion of hydrogen peroxide and nutrients Regenesis to conduct a pilot test using per square inch due to the site’s fine, com- uct loss. into both existing wells and direct push Regenesis’ new PetroFix liquid activated pacted sands, and even distribution as veri- A further report determined that 1,000 drilling technology injection points. The carbon technology. The pilot test was the fied through soil cores. gallons of fuel had discharged from the injections took place from Feb. 29, 2016, first field application of PetroFix. After injection, the boreholes were tank, which was then taken out of service. through Mar. 4, 2016. Post-injection PetroFix Remediation Fluid is a con- filled with cement grout to land surface. Further assessment determined that free sample results collected 30 days after in- centrated, water-based, activated carbon Active groundwater monitoring was con- product was present on the water table. jection were below cleanup target levels. suspension specifically designed to reme- ducted quarterly following the pilot test. Following this conclusion, soils were However, concentrations rebounded to diate petroleum spills and provide imme- Just 60 days after injection, the petro- excavated during tank removal and a biore- pre-injection levels. diate results for gas station and UST sites. leum contaminants were below detection mediation system was installed and oper- Post-application remedial monitoring It is designed to first remove hydrocar- levels. After five quarters of monitoring, ated from 2012 to 2015 by a previous con- sampling has been conducted quarterly bons from the dissolved phase by adsor- no exceedances of any petroleum ground- sultant. since then. As of Quarter 6 in October, bing them onto activated carbon particles, water cleanup target levels have been ob- During the first quarter of 2015, the 2017, the groundwater concentrations re- and then stimulating hydrocarbon biodeg- served in MW-8. radation by adding electron acceptors. Of further interest was documenting This technology is paired with the that hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria were PetroFix Design Assistant, an online de- thriving at the site, which is evidence that sign tool that enables users to individually hydrocarbons were being biodegraded tailor their site designs and self-apply from the PetroFix. PetroFix. QuantArray Petro analysis by Micro- AET chose this technology because it bial Insights verified that microbes as- offered a cost-effective solution that would sociated with petroleum hydrocarbon quickly address the groundwater concen- degradation maintained robust popula- trations. tions following application, including The PetroFix pilot test injection was total bacteria, sulfate degraders and PM- applied at MW-8, which had the highest 1, which degrades MTBE and other hy- contamination levels. This well is located drocarbons. in a vacant lot across the street from the In September, 2018, Regenesis applied convenience store. for an innovative technology acceptance Prior to the injection, baseline sampling letter from the Florida Department of En- was conducted at MW-8 and downgradient vironmental Protection. The innovative well MW-16 for BTEX, PAHs and TRPH. technology letter was issued on May 14, Because this was a pilot test using a 2019. new technology, samples were analyzed AET has since designed a full-scale ap- for additional parameters such as micro- plication of PetroFix and received DEP QUANTIFYING VAPOR IN INDOOR OR OUTDOOR AIR? bial counts, alkalinity, total organic carbon final approval in late October. The injec- and chemical oxygen demand. tions are scheduled for Jan. 6 - 10. Realize the Benefits of the Waterloo Over the course of three days, 1,700 Gordon Dean, PE, is vice president of Membrane SamplerTM pounds of PetroFix and electron acceptor Advanced Environmental Technologies salts were injected into 13 points around LLC in Tallahassee. He can be reached at MW-8. gdean @aetllc.com.

The Waterloo Membrane Sampler (WMS) is the leading passive Native American tribes question Lake O sampler for quantifying volatile organic compounds in indoor and outdoor air and soil gas surveys watershed restoration work

ADVANTAGES & BENEFITS of WMS By BLANCHE HARDY, PG The surface water storage project, the • Quantify TPH/Gasoline/VOCs K-05 Wetland Attenuation Feature, is on • Easier to use & less expensive than For more information on WMS he U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the northern side of the lake east of Semi- Summa Canisters Samplers or our other leading and South Florida Water Manage- nole tribal trust and tribal-owned lands and • Provides time averaged data remediation focused products and services contact SiREM toll free at ment District are proposing to flood west of combined Canals C-41A and L- • Optimized for soil gas surveys T 1-866-251-1747. in excess of 13,600 acres, creating 46,000 62. (US Patent 9399912) • Small size- discrete to deploy and easy acre-feet of surface water storage as part Native American representatives op- to ship of the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Res- pose the project element that is adjacent toration Project. to the Seminole Brighton Reservation. Paul Backhouse, PhD, senior director of the Heritage and Environmental Re-
    sources Office for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, provided comments on behalf of   
  the tribe at an October South Florida Eco- system Restoration Task Force meeting. Backhouse said the tribe finds the wet-   land attenuation portion of the restoration plan “particularly concerning.”
    While the Seminole support wetland restoration in general, they do not support this specific plan due to the significant number of tribal cultural and historic sites on the eastern portion of their land that could be flooded with any breach of the attenuation area boundary.
          The tribe also have future development      plans for their land that could similarly be     !" threatened by a breach in the wetland at- tenuation area boundary.  #$    %  In addition to potential impacts due to   " proximity to the wetland attenuation fea-  ture, there are tribal sites within the attenu- &' ( ) #( )  (  ation feature boundaries. Flooding the at-  " tenuation area could put burial sites under  water. $   *   *   " Backhouse compared submerging Seminole ancestral remains to “consign- ing them to a form of hell.” “My biggest concern with this plan is    ! !"""  #$%&
 '!"("!)(("#*+$,'"! !',,, that it doesn’t address all of the different -+$..#/0$+%-1201!%1
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8 December 2019/January 2020 Florida Specifier Duke Power files assessment of corrective action for Crystal River By ROY LAUGHLIN power plant contamination “Bottom line is that we look for recy- cling opportunities that turn this waste into his summer, Duke Power Corp. Duke began installing monitoring wells install a final cover system over the ash a valuable product and benefit our custom- filed a Coal Combustion Residuals in 2015 and has now installed an array of pits. ers. Also, safe recycling is the only way to Trule Assessment of Corrective Mea- 26 wells. It could choose to excavate the ash for avoid permanent disposal. We’re pretty sures Report describing findings of excess Some additional monitoring wells may beneficial use or it could excavate and store proud of this work.” levels arsenic, lithium and molybdenum in be required to provide the desired data to ash off-site, a strategy used elsewhere in Cleaning up groundwater will also be groundwater at its Crystal River Energy guide corrective actions for lithium and Florida to decommission coal-burning required. The report provided a list of can- Center, or CREC, in Citrus County. molybdenum. power plants. didate remediation technologies. Following passage of the CCR rule, The data, obtained and reported by A hybrid option presented in the report In-situ methods include migration bar- Duke initiated required monitoring around Geosyntec Consultants Inc., is presented is to beneficially reuse as much of the ash riers, chemical immobilization and perme- its coal ash handling and impoundment in the CREC’s re- as possible and store able reactive barriers. areas at the plant. quired 2018 and the remainder on- Groundwater extraction, through either The clock is ticking down to the start Monitoring showed fugitive contami- 2019 CCR annual of arsenic, lithium and molybdenum-con- site in a smaller conventional vertical well systems or nants in groundwater that had leached from reports covering taminated groundwater cleanup at the landfill. The smaller phytoremediation, is a second category of the facility’s ash storage and disposal area, four quarterly sam- Crystal River Energy Center in Citrus landfill would re- candidate cleanup methods. or AS/DA. pling intervals in County. quire construction. Other groundwater treatments and Arsenic exceeding the groundwater 2018 in early 2019. Ditches and monitored natural attenuation are also protection standard occurred in samples The good news for Duke is that moni- stormwater ponds on the site will also re- listed as candidate remediation methods. from a majority of the CREC wells. More toring well arsenic concentrations, espe- quire removal of coal combustion residu- By submitting its CCR Assessment of than half of the wells around the perim- cially evident for wells that initially had als and sediments contaminated by it. Corrective Measures Report, Duke is com- eter and downgradient of the AS/DA had high arsenic concentrations, are largely When excavated, it would be subject mitted to site remediation but has an un- arsenic concentrations above acceptable stable. to the same remediation treatment as the specified time frame for selecting the best levels. In addition, a couple of the high-level AS/DA. method or methods. From 2018 to the spring of 2019, ar- wells are exhibiting slight downward “These source control measures (de- Duke and its consultants will continue senic levels ranged from well below the trends in arsenic concentrations. scribed above from the report) will sub- monitoring to provide additional assess- 10 micrograms per liter arsenic standard Arsenic-contaminated groundwater is stantially reduce the introduction of addi- ment that will guide remediation planning to as high as 79.8 micrograms per liter, confined to Duke’s property. Sampling tional constituent of interest mass into for molybdenum and lithium contamina- according to the annual monitoring report wells yielding arsenic above the 10 micro- groundwater from the AS/DA,” the report tion on certain parts of the site. required by the CCR. grams per liter limit are adjacent to the ap- noted. After selecting a remediation method, A small number of monitoring wells proximately 100-acre AS/DA on the 4,730- In response to a query, Paige Sheehan, Duke must by law hold a public meeting along the facility’s northern boundary had acre property. APR, director of regional communications within 30 days to characterize what the high arsenic levels attributable to an adja- Of that total, only 1,462 acres are de- at Duke Energy, said that in recent years, company plans to do. cent U.S. Gypsum facility. That off-prop- veloped for power plant and transmission Duke has found a substantial beneficial “Duke has been working with the erty-source arsenic is not subject to the facilities. No public potable water wells are reuse market for ash from the CREC coal Florida Department of Environmental Pro- current remediation plan. near or downgradient of the coal ash im- plant. tection regarding groundwater issues and Also notable was that high arsenic lev- poundment. “The net amount of ash sold directly corrective action,” Sheehan said. “When els were not found in groundwater on area Monitoring wells near the Gulf of from the generating station and reclaimed Duke has corrective action options more wells downgradient and near the Gulf of Mexico, downgradient from the AS/DA, from the ash landfill for beneficial reuse fully fleshed out, we’ll continue discus- Mexico. Contamination, at least arsenic yielded no water samples with excess coal was higher than the amount generated dur- sions with the regulators and the public.” contamination, is localized only around the ash contaminants. ing the year,” she said. She noted that the CCR rule does not AS/DAs. Duke Power’s Assessment of Correc- She explained that Duke works through specify a specific date to select a remedia- Lithium concentrations were also oc- tive Measures Report, submitted this sum- coal ash marketing companies to provide tion plan but that Duke is now working to casionally high with one result as high as mer, is a significant milestone for reme- ash for Portland cement and ready-mix further explore the feasibility of the vari- 502 micrograms per liter. Molybdenum’s diation efforts at the Crystal River Energy concrete. ous options as quickly as possible. highest concentration was 328 micrograms Center. It starts the clock on a required re- “We’ve recycled more than we produce The clock is ticking down to the start per liter. mediation effort. for many years, with the possible excep- of coal ash and groundwater remediation Water quality standards for those met- In its report, Geosyntec noted that if tion of 2016,” she said. “We’re likely to at Crystal River, and reuse may be a sig- als are 40 and 100 micrograms per gram, Duke decides to close the AS/DA as a con- continue the process for at least another nificant component of the eventual fate of respectively. trol measure, the company would have to decade. the ash.

Fort Myers: 239-674-8130

Florida Specifier December 2019/January 2020 9 Opinion EPA moves to censor public health data used to drive environmental By ROY LAUGHLIN regulatory process Now, EPA advisory committees are dominated by non- scientists and hand-picked industry-connected forensic re- n late October, the U.S. Environmental Protection and reference the language in the rule. “Sole discretion” searchers. The advice the EPA now receives from its ad- Agency announced amended rulemaking that modi- has only one obvious interpretation and that doesn’t in- visory committee members has no guarantee of scientific Ified its originally proposed April 2018 rule, Strength- volve exceptions. Neither is it conditioned on the absence quality, rather, it is now excessively at risk of being opin- ening Transparency in Regulatory Science. of data. The transparent explanation is that, whether with ion heavily biased by self-interests. When Trump administration officials start endorsing or without data, the EPA is giving its administrator a pass In its response to Lisa Friedman’s article, the EPA press transparency in government, “miracle cure” is the first to base decisions on influence. release stated that “non-government funded research thought that springs to the minds of the eternally hopeful. Abandoning its censored data and substituting its sole should also be subject to transparency requirements.” It It would be one in the genre of St. Paul’s conversion on discretion, the rule that EPA will likely neuter first is the would be a miracle if “should” asserted in a press release the road to Damascus. Clean Air Act during its periodic review of specific air had any more substance than a whim. Unfortunately, spe- Most of the EPA’s plans invoke murky jargon rather contaminants that affect human health. A 1993 Harvard cifics that make transparency guarantees in the proposed than clarity. It proposed contorted EPA definitions for “re- study of air quality and human health is the foundation of rule to censor industry data are not evident. Maybe it’s a analyze,” “independent validation,” “data” and “models,” the CAA. secret plan to be revealed later. and clarified that the proposed rule applies to all data and Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby, in a It is a fact, not a whim, that businesses under EPA models underlying “pivotal sciences” used to support shameful public coddling of coal mining and the coal- product and chemical regulation can declare their data to decision-making. If you’ve read this far because you still powered electricity and steel industries, has attacked the be “confidential business information” and further ob- expect that miracle, add speaking in tongues. Harvard study. Its authors, following privacy stipulations scure it from public reach and review. The EPA proposal “The era of secret science at EPA is coming to an end,” in the subjects’ informed consent agreement, would not baldly extends an already grossly unfair asymmetrical said Scott Pruitt in 2018 to announce the beginning of the release the data to the public. In this case, the “public” benefit to business, commerce and industry in its regula- rulemaking under discussion. Pruitt protested secrecy too was the industries and their lobbyists. tions. much in this statement. It is a struggle for the imagina- In the late 1990s, the Harvard study’s data was re- How the EPA’s proposed rule changes will protect tion to keep the Trump EPA’s fictional narrative on track. viewed and reanalyzed by qualified third-party profes- public health is impenetrably murky. However, their in- Sinister scientists are villains in this drama of alleged oc- sionals in compliance with confidentiality rules. That tention to continue to expand favor to businesses and the cult data and indecipherable data analysis. third-party reanalysis strengthened the conclusions offered regulated is crystal clear in this rule and its recent amend- The EPA narrative’s fatal flaw is that their “bad data” in the original study. ments. don’t have withheld secrets. In fact, they have very real Since then, granting agencies and researchers have Apostle Paul, on the way to Damascus, survived the but anonymous subjects. Human subject studies in the developed protocols to generally allow independent data fall from his horse, which many early believers consid- U.S. and Europe collect certain categories of data under reanalysis or aggregation while preserving human sub- ered a miracle. But the EPA’s amended rule proposal is laws and rules that provide “human subject protection.” jects’ privacy. What will it take for EPA Administrator no miracle cure for the “secret data plague” that terrified Since the 1970s, U.S. human health data has been Andrew Wheeler to understand that basic fact? Scott Pruitt and continues to terrify Andrew Wheeler with- gathered under informed consent guidelines that include If scientific data are unreasonably put beyond the out reason or evidence. privacy protection. A summary of those rules is publicly EPA’s consideration, the public should not expect scien- Under the Trump administration’s EPA, the American available in the document, The Regulatory Framework tist action heroes to immediately fly to the rescue of pub- public will need miracles to prevent the pernicious ero- for Protecting Humans in Research - Intentional Human lic health. It is no secret that the agency has purged itself sion of human health and safety benefits that our science- Dosing Studies for EPA Regulatory Purposes. of expert advisory committee scientists just because they derived laws and rules now provide. And that is no secret These rules are far from the “secret” that EPA politi- had received EPA research funding. to anyone paying attention. cal appointees claim. And it’s downright unbelievable that today’s EPA leaders do not understand how these protec- tions work or even why they are necessary. Florida’s imperiled springs destined for doom What is not sufficiently appreciated is how important public health studies are to essential human health and By ROBERT KNIGHT, PHD of success because they do not confront and curtail the safety regulations under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water major sources of nitrate pollution. Two thirds of this pol- Act and almost every other EPA public health rule whose he Florida Legislature had ample warning that lution is from agriculture and the remaining third is from justification and form depended on data from human sub- their 2016 Florida Springs and Aquifer Protec- urban fertilizer runoff and human wastewater. jects. T tion Act was inadequate to fix the nitrate pollu- Fortunately, the Florida Springs Council and eight Scientists and the institutions that employ them are tion nightmare in Florida’s springs. The Florida Springs additional petitioners decided to challenge DEP on a rep- bound to follow the law and ethics rules that protect re- Council warned legislators that the law as written did not resentative group of these inadequate springs BMAPs that search subjects. EPA recklessly proposes to abandon sci- have the teeth needed to solve a problem 50 years in the includes Silver, Rainbow, Santa Fe, Suwannee, Wekiva ence because the identity of subjects is to remain confi- making. and Volusia Blue springs. dential, as required by law. When agency stooges trash As required by FSAPA, the Florida Department of At the November administrative hearing in Tallahas- such data and the objective analysis of it, society as a Environmental Protection determined that 24 of 30 Out- see, DEP argued that their BMAPs do everything allowed whole loses the protections afforded by public health rules. standing Florida Springs are currently impaired by ex- by law but may still not achieve success. The EPA intends to further restrict science’s rightful cessive nitrate pollution. DEP invested thousands of hours of staff time and place in public health policy by legitimizing administra- The department also estimated that nitrate loads dis- many hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to pre- tive fiat to choose data and models that underlie their de- charging from these 24 impaired Outstanding Florida pare and defend these inadequate BMAPs. sired outcomes. Springs needed to be reduced by 68 percent to meet wa- The Florida Springs Council’s rule challenge was sup- To illustrate how “transparent” this will make EPA, ter quality targets. ported by volunteer services and private donations from consider the agency’s press release that critiqued NY Times This nitrate reduction goal will require the elimina- individuals with no economic interest in the outcome. reporter Lisa Friedman’s reporting of EPA’s amended tion of approximately 63 million pounds of nitrogen load- The petitioners’ challenges to these flawed springs rulemaking. ing to the land surface in the associated springsheds. The BMAPs were brought with the sole purpose of proving The following quote is from an EPA press release dated FSAPA directed DEP to develop basin management ac- to the administrative law judge that the BMAPs must be Nov 11, 2019: tion plans to achieve this goal, resulting in 13 BMAPs significantly improved or Florida’s springs are doomed. “The reporter (Lisa Friedman) incorrectly states that: that were adopted by DEP in 2018 to provide a 20-year On a personal note, this is my fifth springs-related ‘The politically appointed agency administrator would roadmap to restore these springs. administrative challenge. The first two were battles over have wide-ranging discretion over which studies to ac- Prior to 2016, DEP scientists had already documented groundwater extraction permits issued to Frank cept or reject.’ This is completely false. The rule requires that reliance on BMAPs to reduce groundwater and Stronach’s Sleepy Creek Ranch, a.k.a. Adena Springs. transparency but gives the EPA administrator the discre- springs nitrate pollution was unsuccessful. After imple- Thousands of private citizens opposed this for-profit tion to use studies when information is not available. How- mentation of upgraded agricultural best management prac- groundwater grab. ever, this should be the exception instead of the way of tices to achieve the 2012 Santa Fe BMAP, nitrate con- The next hearing focused on the emergency and final EPA doing business.” centrations are still increasing in the Santa Fe basin minimum flows for Silver Springs, allowing additional There is a huge difference between “discretion to use groundwater and springs. flow reductions in one of our state’s most imperiled wa- studies” and “sole authority for making decisions about Albert Einstein is famously quoted as saying that the ter bodies. St. Johns River Water Management District alternate approaches to the public availability provisions definition of insanity is doing something over and over lawyers and staff used substantial public resources and of data and models that underlie decisions.” and expecting a different result. Unfortunately, Florida’s personal intimidation to defeat the concerned public’s If the EPA wants to start with transparency, its de- top legislators trusted lobbyists to write the 2016 Florida attempt to save Silver Springs from additional flow deple- fenders should stop making up, using and abusing jargon Springs and Aquifer Protection Act rather than accepting tion. the evidence provided by their own springs technical ex- These three unsuccessful administrative challenges perts that current springs BMAPs are not effective. convinced me that some government leaders will stop at The Suwannee River and its 250+ artesian springs nothing to serve special interests. When the goal is resto- were designated Outstanding Florida Waters in 1979. This ration and protection of Florida’s priceless springs, one legally binding status allows “no degradation of water must learn from one’s failures and try again. quality.” This year, I have had the opportunity to testify and P.O. Box 2175 Since that time, nitrate discharging from those springs present the best available science during two additional Goldenrod, FL 32733 has increased by 50 percent. The sources of this nitrate administrative hearings, the Rainbow Springs minimum pollution are an estimated 36 million pounds of nitrogen flows challenge and the Outstanding Florida Springs Michael R. Eastman per year, primarily from farm fertilizer and livestock op- BMAP challenge. Neither case has been decided, but I Publisher/Editor erations. am confident that in both hearings the facts speak for [email protected] The 2018 BMAP for the springs along the Suwannee themselves and the administrative law judges have the The Florida Specifier welcomes columns, articles and letters does not have any requirement for reduced nitrogen fer- evidence they need to improve these flawed agency ac- to the editor on any subject or issue pertinent to the environmen- tilizer application or reduction in livestock density. It is a tions. tal, regulatory and technical areas the newspaper covers. We re- serve the right to edit all submissions for newspaper style and pub- 20-year plan destined to fail. Robert Knight, PhD, is executive director of the non- lish submissions on a space-available basis only. The opinions ex- This example of inadequate springs restoration actions profit Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute and is a pressed on this page are those of the authors. applies to all 24 of the impaired Outstanding Florida member of the executive committee of the Florida Springs Springs. None of these BMAPs have a reasonable chance Council.

10 December 2019/January 2020 Florida Specifier Calendar

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12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 DEC. 16-20 – Course Wastewater Class A Certifica- JAN. 14 – Course: Introduction to Lift Station Main- 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678

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tion Review, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the Uni- tenance, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the Univer- 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678

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12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 DEC. 19-20 – Course Backflow Prevention Recerti- JAN. 15 – Showcase: FSAWWA MAC New Tech- 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 fication, Pensacola, FL. Presented by the University nology & Training Showcase, Tallahassee, FL. Pre- 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678

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of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570. sented by the Florida Section of the American Water 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678

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Initial, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the University 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567readers informed 8 th of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570. JAN. 24 – Conference: 29 Annual Southwest 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 Florida Water Resources Conference, Fort Myers, 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678

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FL. Presented by the Florida Section of the Ameri- 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567Every issue, we publish this calendar of environmental in- 8

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12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 fill Operators and C&D Sites - 24 Hour, Gainesville, ufl.edu. 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345672175, Goldenrod, FL 32733-2175; fax, (321) 972-8937; e-mail 8 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 JAN. 27-29 – Course: Asbestos: Inspector, Gaines- 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567mreast@enviro-net.com. 8 Center. Call (352) 392-9570. 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678

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ville, FL. Presented by the University of Florida 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678

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cation Review, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392- 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567Thank you! 8 University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392- 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu. 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678

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9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu. 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678 JAN. 8 – Course: Initial Training Course for Spot- ters at Landfills, C&D Sites and Transfer Stations - 8 Hour, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the Univer- sity of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 8-9 – Course: Refresher Training Course for Experienced Solid Waste Operators-16 Hours, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 8 – Course: Refresher Training Course for Experienced Solid Waste Operators-8 Hours, Gaines- ville, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 8-10 – Course: Initial Training for Operators of Landfills and Waste Processing Facilities, Gaines- ville, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570.

JAN. 8 – Course: Refresher Training Course for Experienced Solid Waste Operators - 4 Hours, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 8 – Course: Refresher Training Course for Experienced Solid Waste Spotter - 4 Hours, Gaines- ville, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 9 – Course: Refresher Training Course for Experienced Solid Waste Operators-8 Hours, Gaines- ville, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 9 – Course: Refresher Training Course for Experienced Solid Waste Operators - 4 Hours, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 9 – Forum: CFX Industry Forum, Orlando, FL. Presented by Central Florida Expressway Authority. Email [email protected].

JAN. 9 – Seminar: Water Resources, Reuse, and Resiliency Seminar, Tampa, FL. Presented by the Florida Water Environment Association. Call (407) 574-3318 or visit www.fwea.org.

JAN. 9-10 – Course Backflow Prevention Recertifi- cation, Kennedy Space Center, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392- 9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 10-11 – Course: Backflow Prevention Assem- bly Repair and Maintenance Training and Certifica- tion, Venice, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Center. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 11-29 – Course: Backflow Prevention Assem- bly Tester Training and Certification, Tampa, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Cen- ter. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 13-17 – Course: Backflow Prevention Assem- bly Tester Training and Certification, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the University of Florida TREEO Cen- ter. Call (352) 392-9570 or visit www.treeo.ufl.edu.

JAN. 13-17 – Course: Water Class A Certification Review, Gainesville, FL. Presented by the Univer-

Florida Specifier December 2019/January 2020 11 FEDFILE quires all schools and daycare centers to pacity exceeded 100 gigawatts for the first dards. From Page 2 be tested for lead. If lead is found, parents time. The first, D6008, deals with environ- entry. or caretakers must be notified within 24 In the third quarter of 2019, 1,927 mental baseline surveys. The committee Even though Congress appropriated its hours. The current rule allows 30 days for megawatts of wind power capacity were also proposed to modify D5746, which $1.2 million budget, former Interior De- notification. commissioned. This additional new wind promulgates standards to classify the en- partment Sec. Ryan Zinke and Agriculture A second new notification stipulation generating capacity pushed the U.S. total vironmental condition of property area Department Sec. Sonny Purdue opposed requires public drinking water utilities to capacity over the 100 gigawatts milestone. types for disposition and transfer of fed- its continuation. The two department heads inventory their lead service pipes and no- U.S. electricity generation by wind was eral facilities and property under the Base that most benefitted from the committee’s tify the public of their locations. 273 billion kilowatt hours in 2018. That is Realignment and Closure Program and for activities said they wanted to better utilize The proposed rule has glaring omis- just 6.5 percent of the total 4,171 billion other processes that require classification the funds for those activities. sions regarding the replacement of lead kilowatt hours of total U.S. electricity pro- of environmental condition. Had this council been active more than service lines that health advocates hoped duction by utility-scale generators. Federal government agencies are the a decade ago, it might have prevented two would be addressed. The new rule does not The 2018 data is the most recently primary users of these standards. disasters in Florida agriculture. require replacement of lead pipe service available tally from the U.S. Energy In- In a press release describing its new ini- Florida’s citrus industry has been deci- connections. formation Administration. tiative, an ASTM spokesperson said that mated by two invasive species from Asia. If an analysis of a public water supply The 100-gigawatt milestone translates the committee would like to add new mem- One is the psyllid wasp that has reduced system shows that its water contains more to meeting the electricity demands of 32 bers to increase participation of officials citrus to a niche crop. In addition, the avo- than 15 parts per billion lead, it has to re- million American homes and 500 U.S. fac- involved in property acquisition and dis- cado industry and the native bay laurel tree place three percent of its lead service lines tories. It supplies over $1 billion of rev- posal. ASTM also desires greater environ- have been heavily damaged by the intro- annually. Health advocates wanted to see enue to rural communities. mental consultant involvement. duced ambrosia beetle. a seven percent service line replacement Texas, the leading state for wind-gen- Those who wish to work on this effort Both of these invasive insects introduce annually. erated electricity, has 27 gigawatts of cu- by becoming a committee member may get a bacterial or fungal infection into host Experts estimate that the reduced re- mulative capacity, referring to what the state additional information online at www. plants. The infection is often lethal or re- placement requirement from seven to three could produce not what it does produce. astm.org/join. duces crop production almost entirely. percent annually could extend from 13 to The largest increase in U.S. wind-gen- The group will hold a conference call Mosquito-borne diseases are another 33 years, the time needed to replace the erated electricity is likely to come from on Jan. 14, 2020, at 2:00 p.m., Eastern time. example of significant problems caused by six million lead pipe service connections offshore wind farms. The committee contact is Molly Lynyak. introduced invasive species. currently in use. If the country’s nascent offshore wind She can be reached at (616) 832-9743. This effect, health advocates said, di- electricity production ramps up, it could New drinking water lead rule. The lutes whatever beneficial effect increased equal what Texas currently produces Water Workforce Initiative. The EPA EPA recently proposed a new rule to re- surveillance in schools has by vastly in- within a few years. launched a Water Workforce Initiative to strict human exposure to lead in drinking creasing lead health risks at home. help recruit and train “clean water profes- water. ASTM environmental assessment sionals.” In its release, the agency cited a The beneficial part of the rule increases U.S. wind generating capacity. At the standards. In November, ASTM Interna- critical staffing shortage of trained profes- oversight of lead in drinking water. It re- end of October, U.S. wind generating ca- tional announced plans to revise two stan- sionals to operate and maintain drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. The agency noted that it expects the re- tirement of one-third of all drinking water and wastewater operators over the next 10 years. They noted that these positions may go begging because there is limited aware- The Specifier is your BEST tool ness of water careers, and recruiting and retention of high-tech skilled workers to fill positions is difficult. The EPA is collaborating with the Wa- for reaching environmental professionals ter Environment Federation among other groups and organizations to promote its Water Workforce Initiative. Other collabo- rators include the Department of Veteran in the state of Florida. Affairs to recruit eligible veterans and the Department of Labor to support water op- erator apprenticeship programs. In early 2020, the EPA intends to re- lease a draft Water Workforce Initiative. 08 7, 20 6-1 . ber 1 do tails cto rlan r de O O 3 fo ge 1 Pa SEnvironmentalee Services Final risk rules passed. The EPA passed its final Risk Management Plan for

to etition the first time in January, 2017. It rescinded e’s p er said Subsurface Lan ap D be se to on rnational P only sp could In its re it, Inte•Ration ata Collection For Environm eal-tim many key components of an Obama ad- iss the su pplic nd a e Lith at IP dism with M ology seco IP/C & V say thn that the 6 ondu OS Lo to atio e 1 ctiv gging ent on t be Pag ity S n w ld no MIT •nC om ystem ou ER ed o plete B •S ministration rule that forced facilities with etitio rovide informds w P u io-R ubsu ental Professionals he p ww EP ontin Serv em rface S T wwetlan.te d D C icesPoediatio Sa oil, G the amr an n In mpling ro ve apezebra.comeness. jection als undw also failedro to p al P Tam o, Du ater & ould p of sam pa Office al-tube Soil V Internationaloff to administration Paper’sw wastewateration hearings, permit again heads •DP & S apor specified activities or contents to coordi- aged. & lu AN e- am is claim (813 Aug g-te ATT a D d th Intern th ) 65 er In sting GR lorid - Bo 5-17 ints, stalla service 5 A G e F rotec isputed 17 F Sp tion s e: $ OR e d ax: arge of M ric EL ith th ental P nt to hav (813 Poin icro-W py P y M nm te ) 65 ts an ells Co B fficials wiro it 4-93 •Div d CM , Mo gle , o nv erm 98 erse T M nito nate with local authorities to improve in ly f E GROUNDWATER Fle ulti-le rin S n Ju otice ofo. in a p ill in A et o vel W g ber 9 ent o ccess, in f Geo ells um partm aper C ent m dus- clu probe September, N 2008 nal P tonm ding Units fo 30 nvi- tion released a n an e in ido Rem r C me e e atio erd ote-A om olu t th I tern its C discharg ccess D plete V oratoriesk a t In allow to PT emergency avoidance and response plans. b s near P la loo biz” gran ould unty d y lose he t w o etlan b • Auger, Mud Rotary, Sonic Drilling and Direct Push a c of t ing tha bia C to w ged ke tate mlin e allen e ta r “s trea -ey Escam ental ad- t, w s. ou f s bs d een ch m vironmentalgus ines des y o la an trial effluent in as b viron ilar no- for Environmental / Geotechnical Applications n Au us clu sibilit 9, a e 9 n it h e en o. It also required public disclosure of the E ry b in s e g ve lab ue po ag Pa ule o Bay. erm sed a sim e E tal iss he n P on r n- he p po ears ag en r’s er, t s o als ram iro T f the samat op onm yea ov lab utic rog env bers o th three y inistrativds r his e c for ace A p of . em up EP m rien T n th ts rm ’s Q tory e 6 m ro D y F als • Sonic 4”, 6”, 8” and 10” Casing Drilling le o en ha EP irec ag acy g ust b idu rtic irem or p e D al d on P voc ug div PROTECTION a qu g f n s f intent by ict risks and public notification of emergency e th n in tr r stin on r a eg 2 e o in A e in e. Dis PT ad u b 1 tic o petitions for ad th an li- ent of te e n, o te w gem w ah ta er T ere filedc. and e L nso ana to vie ge ditio e s p s w In elin r M d an ad th ns ay u eard • DPT Injectionate c teServices, (HRC/ORC) h In ing le llo 1 da W e n a c 0. rv b ga to hearing ido B Jacq e been407-426-7885 co . lori xp tio 1 se n n d ill be h .E t F e c ge bs illio illio ea erd e an s hav .D wes re stru at. Pa trou m m ar of P an at w orth d a on r th tal la 0 0 ty e B e, N n c te responses such as evacuation routes. in 5 5 - u g en t 2 6 un n es L etition row o wa m er ou en co sta Judg n C e S urin m v b e e- ub - Jam ese p aw at Joh rg e d tor f a etw fiv r s p Th th by •e oRemediationov System Piping Ri l o b a ive o a e L hoto b t. S awa nd oss R ay t into a single case th 5 P St. G n a istric hdr ty, a acr ace t w ug. 2 • Horizontaln how Wellnt D Installation and Rehabilitation Peace wit oun ay Pe es dated inistrativ as requestedy A o- itat o , s me he C r d he e b dm b ab stem ge T olk pe of t th by A him h t sy ana The first rule, although gutting public w anter h tic in P ns flo s to to le for a nfer-m ua en r M day allo e r a t. 19 Canter. dge C ond ailab P aq atm ate n g d th diffe ffor t “Ju sp teleco E nd r tre a W billio plete ts n e s are av a te rid de poin atio e fir party re ey ality wa t Flo as iew tor e th en iller, a D qu torm es h . V es com gre each tes th re-hearing M fit ter s rthw lly e r be its f da nn Wa m a’ No dark tia h th as r ent o with ww ee A on-pro E fro Feull D e protections, remained unacceptable to in- c fo n w.p ts fitnv th roa reen ort h d po O D ace ‘ ne ir obny rin th p irp rtifie om IS labs NbEe ed me king in in - g l A ce y c e e tion hearing/pn. .cayom is a n - LigAn ntal T Wa a na e mr is th th ce,” said ido B ts residen pro es C A est ter & s. ater is still rem too oes atio to b ria am rt in en erd resen NantP to ‘ Md ccred ing S astew t to g tern try he p ogr po kesperso T o w DESf the onit ited ervic nten IA i In oun s. T r t air spo ds of P ath repre h s o , SD orin , NA es ment plan alysis the com M iam e c e tal p s rien th ea c won WA g for ICS But the w salt co e. M th actic en e fir F am venie , UC DEP: CE gives 5413 go-ahead in to an an Jun e fish dustries who demanded more confidenti- t in t pr nm th Olab cosystemellnt asF any MR RC 80 h g to P in som at’s por en viro is n. anization d A3 rmoe e dlo thatr , RC LA, R d hig rdin DE arm air em n IA tio org a an e thnd B, as w ida lo RA/U CR an to h ater th ts nag t’s e n. M a lorid 86- each catio ST I A, , acco ed e can lan ma por atio ertific in F F atershed672-5 s and lan T ns to D H& C ding creek rovid d w air rtific ch c d preservo uwrte ay668 a b- serv AN WA p , an ater p the e su ay terwen la 8 mpa Georgia-PacificeH yGo efen millany pipelinederw 01 c tain tect an B a bs & ill1 be3- sused J ASH u: p xcessive salin n ay 140 ob ido g w rsn inw po627-0 acAK rs are d E water creekt u onw ality for the risk their activities posed to Perd din be e sro 00 R ks e the greeneline .S. to 15 n InInquires:qay. em Mike.Valder@e p ervic 3 B y 9P onville lato giv ip rvive. i C e is U e buirie th dversee ce B 04-4 gu to ve in a fresh Jod surrou nd its sm: L byo e a dnters 12-2 ersial p elie ht to su man ipelin g 19 pacts thB a rrain ee an natiotate 2re11ecision trov ups b dark dcan lig affec o e p istin Departments im OP se of the.No T ne nweirid d ro too ee esw n of th t’s ex 02, Shall “F affectedecau ve on ronh o th e! tal g - t n ok en 20 ,” said [email protected] ht to a conmen iron tha P sp ctio artm in tially ns b ill ha ay acela lig iron ent. nv - DE stru uted itting the public around facilities and factories. 3 s w b stan n o B ill s.com ironm ent of E the dep perm e actio Perdid ns w S e env en the go a in en tific alendar agency actio ay at som the env epartm iv said therized con e order exec C fieds 13 pact th o B th a D as g a- tho f an op im akes andClearetitions. Solutionsid for rid n h start on au istrativ critical scieninistra- Classi File 2 14 r L st p erd hich will harm lo n to er min art o ded dm Wicke Ruguem of P e, w - The F tectio eorgia-Piv ad was p clu nd an a s otes 4 roposedediation agencyality actioak P ro structio a G hns R at in t a w In 2018, the EPA proposed to further Federal N Editor of the Ae p r qu tal P ental which pu he “Th ate icker L ing, men line from t. Jo nm blic in reek flo t w d W e use and em for conipe the S viro process ,th pu ice C Florida to the r fishrofessionalsur- ahead ater p en t iew . ile R iver, it is a es harm ake an affect th f ill to mProvidingan archaeologicalrev h h nsand R ot large Letters v ee L aters fotional p wastew er m s fro earing w is n d T ativelyS ese w ap cern ists w t- tive h t. Jo ’s dis- h an us elfare o n ill ou he said that the w S its flo ality amend the rule and finalized that rule in Perspectiatc s thera recread w cific p historicaltal active m servicesld S sinceto nd1989: W ram will negsentu of th n B at ite co men st th ou a e facility e ater rog n- ym sa and o oued.s th desp s. iron ctly in ody ater qu th W w p me plo ing n@ ntin tiasay p ater wville. dire ater b ilate th e w ed by b- ne on r- m e healthinn an to nce, Pgrou e env Surveyastew n P n’s nvir o im d th ot von erien .ESom fight again so E small w nfirm ort su atio e a. C , sw bers,” it coen ea . e the se w Jack) ed D h to assim co niz st to rid 175 em ill exptec ntinu ho ard ) Siteill assessmentug ing ality rep Whatr gisa up?tere f Flo x 2 ; poses, ’san m ent w h.coes a w Interpretation tow riticiz e m eno a find uch November, 2019. r o o o 77 PB (9 olv mto co alatk m ater qu ou of in tate . B -77 FO w ildlife1 w v 0 e P strea e also c ith th an- charge and still achiev w n y ing e s P.O 671 iro- Thwe statem ell.9) 3 n in 1 sid wn ent w er m dards— as a mity to we include o nyth d th to 7) env wther.in w 4 ing do ps hav rd stan acific hns h s in a n nt 40 @ 2n u ) ia-P ) apac ill u — rou se at ( fo noaper’s pla -29 flow e gro agreem ) Litigationrg supportne. Mitigationt. Jo e c uality F jects ls a e s at in fish and l oeffects as wve e span ater into44 Th an a court o e a Geo Ju e S d th pro na ld b all u s fu nal P elinate or- to . e in ater q d ssio hou ail u astewch er p aking at led n’t havlin itted me an w an ofe e s 33. C e-m harm ternatio .co o www do e m he said thlu ith e, The latest rule rescinded requirements r nc 27 , or In g a pip e low m for m o th struction ip S w vo arg tal p nde L 3 757 put! ctin arge the w Perdid con .southarc.comaste- liance w er spo d, F 1-7 ur in plete stru and years ag er the p ly er flo mp e disch iv re nro ) 67 r yo om - con reek 1-888-707-2721fficials sayheth they u ickor (352)larg e 372-2633co of th ns R ill olde 407 s fo inc t in at are close to th and dating theP o dustrial w iev t. Joh P w G at ( ank or rren r miles to dischs th ile C DE out w he in ore q near ach G r us h rate cu ou en M ed ards. the S . “ e fax m. T Pro cu our te y - etland lev uilt. T nd e relocationg to said e riv .co mac y cia ata w into the creekention oice ab ersed m sta ith th in ay th for safer technology and alternative analy- t e b e released ad ne •S in pwitht. Appre n d ns of E w m ch isp uld W onw s in ,” she Addressbel is ocorrect?lidt us e a tio tio ds flo sly uld b ill b . o erall lo e, C dard la ac & . W uclac . sho ill be d it w g g g •Nnt eChe irc u ay etlan e ini- w say in stan ailin co on-Pbov urm cica rate B e w o previou. ed th ater w f ho ipeline warg the ov ot chan EP r m ase•Hss a otap o l M . A Th ay w o m, they ile p ill n r quality n be restored , D ou ple dreazardee ble W ateria t a the tw the b alleng ied it lastr ause otto ur-m p disch talists w ate n If y y, d k . a ls a a•P s o le ter ugh F to ch en ape bec en reek ca tectio ality e u uibs W in B d er b e fo m eet w ro ny w t th inesticidg oss as thro ndair OPP EP nal P th iron the m ice C ses, third party audits, incident investiga- a a lp p teC ater ing acific stov er’s p ater qu in tion he•Pe as es & kes a e F ric, D the rivuild ia-P t en s to d R g w at’s al- a in te trole PC H la 005 e s. B u w an e riv rm nce •C-da um Bs fter th 2 ternatio. astew d eorg . B n diluting flo . in fo ta -to ha Wa AN A it in e w etlan w G Geaaryich A said sure th n-go iver th - sis p pte ste P that In reek h s R s u r 6 G erm t th ew o en a s •E 2-7 . ing e w allo T an o hn oten a PA G O e n ice C also mer, w . Mned p se M 13, F o tial p tha t th at R uld a iring t. Jo y a •an eth E SE ld . to o riv sig i b o AC ust say ow affect th in y en r, e S r an d d 18 B ug sh the an m e A ing tha Atp isP.E requ f th . nito your message o o rsely illio re... to al mt ay o tions, information disclosure to the public n e or m . ,o x say it water in n e dy E rw r e co 0 ey t adv is say ation sq ill m RV o failed o , th 20 th stu nde 2 n B htly altered repe astew o $ at u . w P P d (863) 686-4271 ternA r by L y 1 uld O vai w nville. ofe aw dy , In esl are ade 7 o d a w a slig bl so ss read& IC F ile F e S ears ag d m io e stu www.lakelandlabs.com5 h P an tateJack e y n Th L W erely E ifferenc w m tW ane rescribed al n E i ideo b ialists fromE n Fl - S en : n 3 o esw p ec gi 3 REQ it is m ne, D en rida w tectio n KNOW BEFORE 2 YOU DRILLerm No grad ill spw. ro eer ge 1 7 p that the d Fe the agreem p ga a and what the EPA characterized as several e r P 3 o er m tal P e first o gesI to aterr Co an of u ap Phoen yam L on 3 of th aintain an nitia st fo rth y p ne: aterai IL ed U astewl r o nm ( e u er m Cons w d b Emiro 239) r.Mco tin EST ap ul v a 9 eep n ASR & Deep Injection W P tati n il: 3 o m f the w 5 k ificant. ere no ch o Offianc ges to thean on state an . E gary@late clean w-994 C sign esign ch e: Leere th .SFocusing on Environmental,io ga ed Regulatory,to ve-8 and here w C e U rya ED d d d no oth ou at v mmapro n th allow Hyd “T g an an stem ty cy.Administrative allyLaw, includingp im Permitting,aier. “minor regulatory changes.” ro acres from gen elo co se 0809 eerin stem sy eti- A orm ev m k ismic ell Site Characterizationgin tion 200 a p e Facilities th arst c ima ent sy ately Compliance, Enforcement, and Relief. m olla ging treatm distribuxim t,” said iss th ards arehile n they d igra pse can d ro dism o stand w tion o s, an map wetlan g app ’s effluene to ere n - f efflu d fra haz ovin IP an operating en ctur ardo rem ith here w f efflu More directly applicable to risk man- t to ed u eline L o un con s fau P ntact w u er. “T w de fin ltre z co uantity d.” W a rg in U o Jacq A ter ro g u s ne geth L is u .S s etlan K h nd nits o ,n by E ig s O w r tio lity or q e w in our next issue? . P te R h o h it alto a ly u P e th M p rce R P re A ro E s d to R b L o O perm a Af d S IN b R A lied le rS in ges in qup www.walkermarinegeo.com E • [email protected] G M N k ap ID T ing chan agement, the EPA also modified amend- E D n Call 561-251-5352O IT A d P O G H 1 t being Y a en , F E SIC 5 rd A5 L 6 L C P O. rovidin g qu ments to local regulation, emergency ex- alit y drill ing se rvices with qual ity pe ople and e ercises and public meetings, and changed quip ment

Environmental drilling • Exploration compliance dates. Geotechnical drilling • Wire line coring (352) 567-9500All terrain • Toll-free: and barge 1-800-487-9665 rigs The agency proposed the changes to re- Advertising in Offices in Dadewww.hussdrilling.com City, Bonifay and Monticello duce “potential security risks associated the Florida Specifier with information disclosure requirements in the first amendment.” is a cost-effective way to keep your The agency cited unnecessary regula- company in front of the key players in Florida’s environmental industry marketplace. tion and regulatory costs, concerns that the EPA did not coordinate rulemaking with OSHA, and other issues. Rates start at only $425 for a full year of business card advertising. The new rule will prevent public dis- closure of risks and no longer require com- Call us at (407) 671-7777 panies to engage in cooperative training of the local community’s first responders for effective action in the case of a fire or explosion. It seems to do little to require Growing your business is our business. facility owners to take timely and effec- tive action to improve facility safety.

12 December 2019/January 2020 Florida Specifier ALGAE ate level, the task force recommended that This explicitly means that the unitary functioning and failing systems. Correc- From Page 1 additional efforts to ensure compliance be authority that the Florida Department of tive actions should be developed and en- ness of specific projects has not been as- designed and enforced, including requir- Health now exercises over on-site waste- forced to reduce nutrient pollution at the sessed due to lack of available monitoring ing accurate record-keeping, verification water systems be shared with the Florida same time maintaining septic systems pri- data.” of the records and increased availability Department of Environmental Protec- mary role of protecting human health. Even where the necessary efforts have of the records for analysis and review. tion. The committee also recommended a been made, BMAP implementation con- The task force also suggested that BMP In its new role, DEP would develop and fers no ability to show whether it has been manuals include an estimate of nutrient in- implement a septic system inspection and ALGAE worth the effort and investment. put reductions associated with the practices monitoring program to identify improperly Continued on Page 16 The report encouraged incorporation of described. This is not currently required. information about land use alterations in In addition, BMP manuals should be areas affected by rapidly changing demo- updated by the Florida Department of Ag- Environmental Services graphics to make projections of nutrient riculture and Consumer Services on an ac- mobilization. Such incorporation, it wrote, celerated basis. will “inform land use planning and per- BMPs require that best available tech- mitting.” nologies be used but its manuals do not Environmental Services Agricultural BMPs specify what technology is available. The This section began with the statement: task force suggested that when manuals are Sonic Drilling: Truck Mounted (2) • Track Mounted (4) “In watersheds where agriculture is the updated, best available technology candi- Angled wells and low clearance (14’) predominant land use, it should not be sur- dates should be listed. Geoprobe Direct Push Technology prising that agriculture is also the domi- Septic tanks • 66 series (3) • 77 series (1) • 78 series (3) nant source of both phosphorus and nitro- The report noted that 2.5 million sep- Indoor/Limited Access Rig (2) gen.” tic systems treat approximately one-third The report noted that enrollment of of Florida’s wastewater. Nutrients from Auger/Mud Rotary • Diedrich D-120 (2) • Diedrich D-50 (2) farmers in Lake Okeechobee basin’s agri- these systems are substantial contributors www.groundwaterprotection.com cultural best management practices is con- to harmful blue-green algae blooms. 2300 Silver Star Rd. Orlando, FL 32804 Multiple Injection Applications siderably less than in other areas. South The task force recommended that DEP Well Abandonment with Pad & Vault Removal Florida algae problems occur because a develop a comprehensive regulatory pro- Serving Florida Angle and Horizontal Well Installation quarter of the farmers there openly defy gram that ensures septic tanks and on-site and the Electrode Installations the use of BMPs. The report recommended wastewater systems are sized, designed, Southeastern U.S. quick action to correct this. constructed, installed, operated and main- Since 1986 CMT Well Installations Once enrollment reaches an appropri- tained to prevent nutrient pollution. Mineral Exploration

NOTES of solar power. NOTES [email protected] • (407) 426-7885 • [email protected] From Page 3 The utility recently received approval to 15,000 homes. The energy is sold to from the Florida Public Service Commis- Tampa Electric Co. sion for two new solar projects in Hills- Environmental Remediation The city will operate the facility as an borough County including 74.8- and 74.5- enterprise fund supported by user-fees megawatt facilities. Industrial Tank Cleaning and Decontamination rather than taxes. Because the city does not TECO announced plans to add six mil- Waste Management have to generate a profit, they can use lion solar panels in 10 new photovoltaic One of the Fastest Growing Emergency/Disaster/Marine Response Networks in the USA ... since 1990 funds in excess of operating costs to per- solar projects, for a total of 600 MW over Property Management ADaPT/State specific EDDs form needed maintenance and make up- the next three years. The expansion will Reports delivered in one comprehensive package grades to the 34-year-old facility. provide electrical power to more than Low volume sampling kits “The number of unscheduled outages 100,000 homes. Same day turn-around time available Tampa: (813) 620-2000 has increased in recent years. Conse- Upon completion, seven percent of South Florida: (561) 689-6701 quently, there has been an increase in the TECO’s energy generation will come from Tallahassee: (813) 690-3563 amount of solid waste that has been trans- the sun, making them the power generator Atlanta: (770) 449-8800 ported to other sites for disposal,” noted with the highest percentage of solar utili- Our People and Technology Make the Difference Mark Wilfalk, director of the city’s Depart- ties in Florida. www.xenco.com Florida offices in Lakeland and Orlando ment of Solid Waste & Environmental Pro- Proposed projects include Balm Solar NELAC Certified in FL, GA, LA, NC & TX 800-258-5585 • www.discoverlewis.com gram Management, in a memo to the at 74 MW, Grange Hall Solar at 61 MW, Tampa City Council in October. Lithia Solar at 74 MW and Wimauma So- “This situation has been exacerbated lar at 74 MW. SPOTLIGHT over the last few years because the amount GEOPHYSICAL SERVICES of solid waste generated in the city has Indian River living shoreline. The Your Source for Geophysical Expertise increased as a result of new residential and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation ? In-house geophysical tools commercial development. These factors Commission awarded a $27,300 grant to Microgravity ~ GPR ~ MASW ~ EM Professional Environmental have contributed to an increase in the city’s establish a living shoreline along approxi- Seismic Refraction ~ Electrical Resistivity Testing & Consulting, LLC expenditures for transporting solid waste.” mately 120 feet of the Indian River. The ? Quick response and professional reporting NELAP certified full service laboratory, project is within the Jones Pier Conserva- specializing in microbiology and wet Strategies to address climate change. tion Area along the Jungle Trail. ? Licensed geophysicists and geologists chemistry for potable and DEP is working on a statewide plan to ad- Living shorelines are created using ? non-potable water. dress the impacts of climate change. Alex natural materials such as native plants, SBE Certified Minority Business certified. Reed, director of DEP’s Division of Water shell, sand and rock. They provide habitat Offices in Miami, Florida (305) 607-2377 [email protected] Located in Davie, FL • (954) 440-3537 Resource Management, provided details for plants and animals, protect and stabi- www.spotlightgeo.com www.petc702.com • [email protected] on the state’s strategy for coastal resiliency lize the coastal edge and improve water to the House of Representatives’ Agricul- quality. ture and Natural Resources Subcommittee The Jones Pier Conservation Area was in October. purchased by Indian River County in 2011 Coastal resiliency is a fundamental ten- from the Jones’ family with assistance from ant of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive or- the Florida Communities Trust. der protecting natural resources. It estab- The county committed to implement- lished the Office of Resilience and Coastal ing an ecological restoration management Protection to address climate change, plan for the site while concurrently using coastal flooding and erosion. it for public access as well as educational The office will manage 4.5 million and historical exhibits. OFFICES IN DAYTONA BEACH & DELAND acres of submerged lands and coastal up- 149 S. Ridgewood Ave., Ste. 700, Daytona Beach, FL 32114 lands, and coordinate with local govern- People news. Richard Tschantz has 231 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, FL 32720 ments to manage 825 miles of shoreline. joined Carlton Fields in its government law The Florida Resilient Coastlines Pro- and consulting practice in Tampa. Tschantz gram is comprised of 120 local, state and recently served as general counsel of the federal agencies, university experts, com- Environmental Protection Commission of munity stakeholders, industry profession- Hillsborough County. Before that, he was als and conservation organizations. deputy general counsel of the Southwest The group helped develop the compre- Florida Water Management District. hensive Florida Adaptation Planning Guidebook to assist communities in vul- Company news. Orlando-based envi- nerability assessment, development and ronmental construction and consulting firm Business Card Ads implementation of adaptation strategies Revive ENV Inc. announced the kickoff and funding development. The guidebook of its first major project in South Florida Ad size Dimensions Annual Rate includes examples of vulnerability assess- in November. Single card 2 1/4" x 1 1/8" $425 ment and adaptation plans. Revive will oversee the abatement, air To date, the Florida Resilience Coast- clearance and select demolition of a 186- Double card 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" or 4 3/4" x 1 1/8" $725 line Program has spent over $5 million to unit apartment complex and expects the assist in planning and initiating over 60 job to be completed within a year. Triple card 2 1/4" x 3 1/2" $1,025 community projects representing 35 per- Revive was launched in early 2019. Its Quadruple card 2 1/4" x 4 1/2" or 4 3/4" x 2 1/4" $1,225 cent of the coastal communities in Florida. founder, Jim Cohen, has over 15 years of environmental experience in waste dis- TECO solar. The Tampa Electric Co. posal, remediation, emergency spill re- Keep your company in front of thousands of environmental professionals is on track to significantly expand its use sponse and industrial services. every month at extremely cost-competitive rates. Call (407) 671-7777.

Florida Specifier December 2019/January 2020 13 FLOOD ity in the watershed, resulting in improved Environmental Services From Page 8 Lake Okeechobee water levels, improve watersheds that (drain) into Lake the quantity and timing of discharge to the Okeechobee,” said Gene Duncan, water St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries re- resources director for the Miccosukee store wetlands and improve water supply U.S. Environmental Tribe of Florida. for existing legal users.” Duncan noted that the water manage- Management of water levels and dis- Your source for RENTALS, SALES, & SERVICE ment district’s summary of five years of charges from Lake Okeechobee are criti- water quality data shows that the upper cal to the prevention of algal blooms re- Our device & data experts are ready to provide the BEST rental experience possible! Kissimmee contributes 30 percent of the sulting from discharges to the coasts. Photo Ionization Detectors Mercury Vapor Analyzers Gas Detection Tubes Well Development pumps water to the lake and 15 percent of the The flow of water into Lake Okeecho- Dust Monitors³Area Radiation Sound Peristaltic Pumps phosphorus; the lower Kissimmee contrib- bee significantly exceeds the capacity for Weather Stations Leak Detection Thermal Imaging Submersible Pumps Remote Data Acquisition Air Pressure Water Level Meters Water Sampling utes 18 percent of the water and 17 per- outflow. When water levels in the lake Combustible Gas Monitors Air Sampling Interface Probes Soil Sampling cent of the phosphorus; Taylor Creek con- reach a critical capacity, water needs to be Flame Ionization Detectors Anemometers Pressure Transducers XRF Analyzers tributes 7 percent of the water and 21 per- released in order to ensure the integrity of Gas Analyzers Dust Monitors³Personal Flow Probes DQGVRPXFKPRUH¬ Landfill Gas Monitors Indoor Air Quality Multiparameter Devices cent of the phosphorus; and Fish Eating the massive dike surrounding the lake. Tampa, FL (813) 628-4200 Also convenient locations in MA, CT, NJ, & IL! Creek contributes 12 percent of the water “The volume and frequency of unde- and 12 percent of the phosphorus. None sirable freshwater releases to the east and of these sources are addressed by the plan. west lowers salinity in the estuaries, se- While Duncan indicated respect for the verely impacting oysters, sea grasses and Seminole position, he noted only the wa- fish,” noted corps’ officials. “High nutri- RENT FROM THE BEST ter quality in Indian Prairie in the south- ent levels adversely affect in-lake water 24/7 Nationwide Service ... RENTALS • SALES • PARTS • REPAIRS west portion of the basin is being properly quality, estuary habitat and habitat addressed. throughout the Greater Everglades.” Corps and district officials state that the Time will tell whose priorities will win 2930 Parkway St. • Air Machines • 100-BBL Trucks • Combos • Tankers project will “increase water storage capac- out. Lakeland, FL 33811 • Excavators • Easement Machines • High-Rails • Camera Vans (813) 501-3415 • Liquid Rings • Portable Cameras • Liquid Vacs • Roll-Offs www.vactruckrental.com • Container Trailers • Stainless Steel • Scrubber Vacs • Road Tractors WASTEWATER valuable to growing food, a necessity for From Page 5 long-term space and planetary exploration. “NEWgen eliminates this pain by ac- The technology employs a multi-stage tively converting organic solids to biogas. disinfection process. According to USF In over a year of operation in South Af- data, a fine-pore microscopic membrane Branch Service Area: All of Florida and Georgia rica, it has not required desludging.” filter traps bacteria and viruses. NEWgen is simple to operate, flexible Clean water that passes through the fil- Providing quality drilling services with quality people and equipment in applications and highly efficient, he ter is then disinfected with chlorine, simi- added. Each unit is capable of serving 100 lar to the municipal drinking water people a day. Yeh and his team are work- process. The recycled water can be used Environmental drilling • Exploration Geotechnical drilling • Wire line coring ing on advancing the technology to serve to flush toilets and for irrigation, reducing All terrain and barge rigs • Sonic up to 1,000 people a day. water demand. The NEWgenerator is also well suited The heart of the technology is the (352) 567-9500 • Toll-free: 1-800-487-9665 for use in emergency recovery. anaerobic membrane bioreactor, consid- Dade City www.hussdrilling.com “NEWgen is highly suitable for emer- ered state-of-the-art in wastewater treat- gency response by providing a ‘plug and ment and water recycling with potential for play’ instant infrastructure,” Yeh said. “It net-positive operation—more energy re- operates entirely on solar energy, so it can covered from the waste than expended to
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Coastal Resiliency [=K~>[;+*ZK Tampa awarded a one-year seed grant to Yeh’s and batteries. Test units are housed in mini- Deeefield Beach, FL • Mount Laurel, NJ West Palm (800) 596-7472 • www.enviroprobe.com www.aecom.com team in 2018. The space agency has suc- shipping containers. cessfully been treating and recycling near- USF considers the unit ready for com- space wastewater for years and are inter- mercial launch. A number of patents are ested in NEWgen as a potential technol- pending for its release and mass produc- Catherine Katsikis ogy for deep space and Mars exploration tion. President/Principal Scientist in the future. “We are currently working with vari- LDCFL-NAOS Consulting, LLC To facilitate space travel, the unit will ous commercial partners to mass produce Training - Audits - Data Validation - QA Support need to be smaller, completely sanitary and NEWgen,” Yeh said. “It is anticipated that operational in zero gravity. NEWgenerator NEWgen will be commercially-available Training: Ethics and Data Integrity is attractive because it provides nutrients in 2020.” Corrective Action/Root Cause Quality Systems ... and more MICROPLASTICS at the USF College of Marine Science, Internal Laboratory and Field Audits From Page 1 QA Management and Technical Support used the term to describe microplastic pol- ADaPT/ADR Validation and Training upper and middle Tampa Bay. Samples lution in Tampa Bay. Laboratories and Field System Start-up 3rd Party Data Validation taken in lower Tampa Bay, which is heavily Hastings strongly encourages addi- 3rd Party Laboratory and Field Audits influenced by tidal flushing by Gulf of tional research to get a better understand- [email protected] Mexico water, did not show a rainfall-as- ing of the biological effects of the mate- (561) 512-9956 sociated microplastic abundance spike. rial in aquatic ecosystems. Now, at least in Florida’s estuaries, Microplastics are widely suspected of stormwater runoff can be included as a sig- interfering with filter feeders and plank- nificant source of microplastics. ton grazers, but information on biological You asked for it. “Increased rainfall due to climate effects are scant at this point. change in areas already prone to rain will McEachern noted that her interest in increase the runoff coming from the land the subject originated following observa- to the bay, potentially bringing greater tions of brightly colored plastic particles amounts of microplastics through the in the guts of microscopic plankton viewed storm drains,” said Kinsley McEachern, under a microscope. MS, a marine science graduate student at McEachern led the research and wrote the University of South Florida at St. Pe- the report recently published in Marine tersburg who led the research. Pollution Bulletin. Hastings was the re- This is both a novel and important as- search project’s principal investigator. pect of microplastic fibers in aquatic envi- The study’s co-authors were associated ronments. with the University of South Florida, Degraded and fractured plastic par- Eckerd College, and the Environmental ticles from water bottles, plastic bags and Protection Commission of Hillsborough Digital Access other plastic trash are additional sources County. of microplastics in Tampa Bay, but far Plastics will last longer than a human to monthly issues of the smaller quantitatively. lifetime and cannot be removed to any Florida Specifier on-line Regardless of their source and chemi- extent from surface waters. for paid subscribers and clients. cal composition, microplastics are ex- “The only way to alleviate the impacts tremely long-lived in water and sediments. of single-use plastic in our bay, ocean and “Plastic smog” is a term used to char- marine environments is to turn off the tap www.enviro-net.com acterize microplastics in natural waters. and cut off using it at the source,” said David Hastings, PhD, courtesy professor McEachern.

14 December 2019/January 2020 Florida Specifier 25th Annual Florida Remediation Conference: Notes from the trenches Staff report in-situ. in DeLand. Vertebrae Well Systems has installed In addition, they can now install 563 horizontal wells and seventeen miles Advanced Environmental Laboratories groundwater collection trenching up to 50 ExoTech Inc. opened a new office in of piping. They are installing more “blind Inc. is now the 10th largest employer feet deep in one Birmingham, AL, wells” that don’t exit the ground at the ter- among labs nationally and the largest small pass. and added con- minus allowing the wells to stay within the business laboratory in the country. Native soil is re- Thank you for 25 years struction and con- limits of access agreements. They are moving into the federal mar- moved from the At lunch on Day Two of FRC crete recycling to ketplace and recently added two new staff trench and replaced 2019, I announced the sale of the FRC their services. Ran- OSC Inc. is performing a nuclear and members, Steve Warren, federal business with gravel or sand, conference to Tallahassee-based dy Dalton joined radioactive contamination cleanup for a director, and Debra Elliot, national ac- while concurrently SWIX and Gene Jones, the perfect the firm in the new dismantlement project at Washington State counts manager. setting sump pumps man to pick the conference up from Birmingham office. Hospital in Seattle, WA. The lab is also expanding its state cer- and up to 50 feet of here and run with it for the next 25 ExoTech is tification list throughout its national foot- subsurface collec- years. also expanding into Clean Vapor Inc. is opening an Atlanta, print and are completing a facility expan- tion pipe. Together, we’ve created a close- the brownfields and GA, office. Their patented technology pro- sion at their Jacksonville headquarters to knit community of remediation indus- soil-blending sec- vides dynamic control for installation of analyze PFAS/PFOA and emerging con- The state of try professionals willing to work tors focusing on large-scale sub-slab vapor management taminants including pharmaceuticals and Florida signed off shoulder to shoulder to help solve the chlorinated solvent, systems. personal care products. on the use of trickiest, most complex soil and petroleum and met- Their system addresses seasonal and Regenesis’ Petrofix groundwater contamination issues. als remediation. temperature variations within a protected The NRC family of companies became liquid carbon sus- Over the years, I have come to building envelope. part of US Ecology in November. US Ecol- pension. Petrofix is know many of the wonderful people Total Vapor ogy is celebrating its 10th year in business a petroleum reme- who work in this business. Some have Solutions now SiREM recently completed its first and anticipates exceeding $1 billion in rev- diation substance become good friends. serves clients in 38 field injection of a newly developed enue in 2020. They are growing and add- that contains mi- To all of you, thank you for your states in the U.S. in bioaugmentation bacterial culture that can ing new assets including heavy equipment cron-scale activated support. Have a great 2019 holiday addition their inter- degrade benzene under anerobic condi- and trucks to their fleet. carbon in combina- season and an ever better 2020. national clients. tions. In addition, Brent Pautler has joined tion with slow and And keep up the good work. TVS assesses the firm as customer service coordinator. Preferred Drilling Solutions Inc. quick-release inor- subsurface vapor opened its sixth Florida location with a ganic soluble elec- Mike Eastman intrusion to assure Universal Engineering Sciences Inc. new office in Pompano Beach and added tron acceptors that the health and recently added Dennis Glavin to its staff sonic drilling technology to its service of- stimulate biodegra- safety of on-site as national account manager for environ- ferings. dation. workers and people living in the vicinity mental services. PDS is licensed throughout the South- The company plans to continue devel- of contaminated sites, and operates in com- UES continues to expand, adding of- east U.S. and is currently running up to 20 oping colloidal reagent technologies in the pliance with U.S. Environmental Protec- fices in Washington, DC, and Charlotte, crews a day. coming year. tion Agency technical guidance for the as- NC. The firm now has 18 offices through- sessment of vapor pathways. out the Southeast U.S. DeWind One Pass Trenching now has Groundwater Protection Inc. acquired the capacity to trench to 125 feet below two new long-stroke sonic drill rigs. They land surface. DeWind’s one-pass trencher are starting two new projects including in- can mix a seven-foot-wide bentonite or ce- stallation of air sparging at a NASA site ment bentonite homogenized barrier wall and drilling services for a Superfund site

FRC is a transition from their Low-Scored Site From Page 1 Initiative used to delist as many sites as with Kerfoot Technologies Inc. in possible. That successful delisting effort Mashpee, MA, described a coupled re- picked most of the low hanging fruit, suc- agent method and recirculating in-situ pro- cessfully accomplishing its mission. cess for degrading PFOA compounds in PRP will now shift its focus to actual groundwater. The process relies on coated remediation efforts on sites where contami- ozone microbubbles. nation requires remediation to reach clean His process is an application of a up targets. coupled reaction with sufficient combined PRP Program Administrator Natasha energy to break the carbon-fluorine bond. Lampkin reiterated the need for owners of In a prior FRC conference, Kerfoot pro- contaminated property to authorize site posed that a coupled reaction would be key access to DEP officials so they can initiate to a useful chemical destruction process. site assessments and cleanups. The details are patented, but his results The clear message to consultants is to indicate the process to be effective. persistently encourage their clients to al- Coupled reactions are the basis of cel- low access so remediation efforts can pro- lular catabolic reactions, those that take ceed. energy from breaking chemical bonds in Exhibit hall one compound and applying the energy to This observer enjoys the exhibits be- create or modify chemical bonds in a dif- cause they provide a glimpse into imple- ferent compound. mentation of the good ideas that have so Paul Hatzinger, PhD, director of the often been the subject of technical presen- Biotechnology Development and Applica- tations in prior years. tions Group at APTIM Federal Services This year, over 110 companies were on LLC in Lawrenceville, NJ, described the hand to exhibit at FRC, a record number. use of the same concept of coupled reac- That increase reflected a greater diversity tions, in this case implemented by micro- of professional services, reagents and tech- organisms stimulated with ethene or other nology than ever before. hydrocarbon gases, to degrade emerging New technology, in particular, included contaminants of concern in groundwater. new names and faces offering specialty The talk presented by Rosa Gwinn, chemicals and reagents, cybertechnology PhD, PG, resource and technology man- and biotechnology. ager with AECOM in Germantown, MD, Biotechnology solutions ranged in so- featured delineating PFOS contamination phistication from simple but effective veg- at a site without being overwhelmed by etation sources for use on remediation sites uncertainties in the absence of verified to cutting-edge bioengineered microorgan- analysis and standards for cleanup levels. isms and media to improve chlorinated The tone of her comments contrasted with solvent degradation. some of the more dire impressions of other The high quality of each of the cleanup industry experts. products and services offered was notable, Gwinn described a sampling method as was the opportunity to ask questions and for “bounding uncertainty.” This heuristi- receive the most authoritative answers. cally defensible procedure provides use- Next year, the Florida Remediation ful information about areas on a PFOA- Conference begins its second quarter-cen- contaminated property where the source tury. Who could have predicted 25 years contamination lays. ago that Florida’s remediation enterprise This talk bought a focus on what re- would progress this far beyond dig and mediation specialists can effectively do haul for soil cleanup and pump and treat now. It was a worthwhile contrast to a to clean up groundwater? spreading impression of a PFOA dooms- Even those with great faith in the pros- day scenario. pects ahead for environmental remediation DEP PRP would reasonably admit that the speed of This year’s Regulatory Session brought its development has more than exceeded the news that the Florida Department of expectations. And the place to see that Environmental Protection Petroleum Res- progress up close will continue to be the toration Program’s near-future trajectory annual Florida Remediation Conference. Several images from the 25th Annual FRC, thanks to Gene Jones and Roy Laughlin.

Florida Specifier December 2019/January 2020 15 DEP acquires additional acreage within Wakulla Springs Protection Zone Staff report The acquisition protects the springshed Wakulla Springs,” said Conservation corridor with key habitat for native plants and the land that feeds Wakulla Springs, Florida Executive Director Traci Deen. and wildlife.” The Florida Department of Environ- one of the largest and deepest artesian “Wakulla Caves is a North Florida gem that Florida Forever is the state's conserva- mental Protection purchased 717 more springs in the world. protects freshwater resources, offers tion lands acquisition program. The Florida acres within the Wakulla Springs Protec- The property also buffers and protects world-class scuba diving and recreational Department of Environmental Protection tion Zone Florida Forever project. an additional 13 karst features with hydro- opportunities, and solidifies a conservation is the lead agency for the program. The acquisition of the property repre- logical connections to the Floridan Aqui- sents a successful multi-agency public and fer. Aquifer recharge provided by the prop- ALGAE to address concerns is limited.” nonprofit partnership between DEP, the erty is essential to water quality and quan- From Page 13 They outlined some critical need-to- U.S. Forest Service, the Florida Forest tity at Wakulla Springs and the Big Bend one-acre rule for septic tank placement. A know categories that included better char- Service and Conservation Florida to pro- Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve along St. one-acre rule has been adopted in state acterization of acute and chronic health tect water quality within the Wakulla Marks River shorelines in Apalachee Bay. springsheds and the report recommended effects for domestic animals, wildlife and Springs Basin. “This is a big win for Florida and it be used elsewhere. humans exposed to algal toxins. In areas where the one-acre rule can- They recommended regular and proac- not be implemented because of existing tive sampling for algal toxins in water, and density, the task force recommended ad- easy public access to the test results. ditional legislation and funding for septic- In addition, DOH should establish de- to-sewer conversion programs. fensible health advisories and DEP should Sanitary sewer overflows do the same for defensible water quality In the last 10 years, DEP and DOH have criteria. Both agencies need a “transpar- focused more on sanitary sewer overflows ent, consistent and comprehensive commu- than on septic tank effluent. The report nication plan” to provide the public with recommended a more proactive approach information about algal blooms. that includes requiring wastewater utilities Science, data, monitoring “Clean water is the lifeblood of to install power backups for lift stations As the state implements a more rigor- Florida’s economy and essential installed before 2003. ous program to reduce harmful algal A proactive approach to inspect and blooms, it must be accompanied by a state- to our health and quality of life. correct infiltration issues to reduce sani- wide comprehensive water quality moni- We cannot afford to sacrifice our tary sewer overflows was also recom- toring strategy to address status and trends mended. This may require additional leg- of key water quality parameters. And the valuable water resources for the islation. strategy has to be appropriately scaled. politics of the moment and Stormwater treatment Sampling and monitoring should be Stormwater treatment systems have “appropriate to answer specific questions, the fortunes of a few.” increasingly been identified as a primary address unknowns and allow for improved conveyor of nutrients to lakes, rivers and design and adaptive management of agri- estuaries. The task force recommended that cultural and urban BMPs, regional projects The St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman stormwater treatment systems be subject and BMAPs.” to inspection and monitoring. The task force also advised that addi- Stormwater system design criteria tional research is necessary to “inform PROTECTION AND ENFORCEMENT should be revised and updated to include monitoring efforts.” stormwater treatment technologies that The report noted that its primary fo- have been demonstrated as effective and cus, if not its primary reason for existence, GOOD FOR OUR RIVER. beneficial. is algal blooms in Lake Okeechobee that GOOD FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Innovative technologies spread due to surface water drainage to At- The report endorsed investment in “a lantic and Gulf Coast estuaries. diverse portfolio of technologies, focusing In this region, the report specifically ST. JOHNS RIVERKEEPER on those that are demonstrably cost-effi- endorsed expanded construction of storm- FOR THE RIVER. BY THE PEOPLE. cient, environmentally safe and scalable.” water retention and treatment areas. At the same time, the report noted that The Blue-Green Algae Task Force re- technologies that are focused on the port focused on South Florida with occa- cleanup and mitigation of blue-green al- sional recommendations for other regions gae blooms are important but should not affected by the same conditions that pre- consistently dominate expenditures. dominate in South Florida. But its man- The committee urged the use of tech- date does not end with this report. nologies that are prevention-focused as the The task force noted that it will delve best and most effective investment. The into other important issues including task force also recommended technologies wastewater, water reuse, biosolids, fertil- for the detection, monitoring and forecast- izers, urban landscapes, the role of con- ing of harmful algal blooms. servation lands and wetlands, maintaining Public health effects water quality and the application of herbi- While the task force advised against cides. spending too much money on control of stjohnsriverkeeper.org/join algal blooms themselves and acknowl- Index to Display Advertisers edged that the occurrence of the blooms is Advertiser (Florida Representative) Page of increasing public concern, the “science Telephone URL/E-mail (if available) ADVANCED ENVIRONMENTAL LABS 9 (904) 363-9350 www.aellab.com BEEMATS 16 (386) 428-8578 www.beemats.com CARBON SERVICE & EQUIPMENT CO. 8 (407) 313-9113 www.carbonservice.net CHEROKEE ENTERPRISES 8 (305) 828-3353 www.cherokeecorp.com CLARK ENVIRONMENTAL 5 (800) 276-2187 www.thermaltreatment.com CLEAN EARTH 6 (941) 723-2700 www.cleanearthinc.com CLIFF BERRY INC. 7 (800) 899-7745 www.cliffberryinc.com CUSTOM DRILLING SERVICES 7 (800) 532-5008 www.customdrilling.net ETEC LLC 5 (971) 222-3616 www.etecllc.com FLOWERS CHEMICAL LABS 4 (407) 339-5984 www.flowerslabs.com GEOPROBE SYSTEMS 3 (785) 825-1842 www.geoprobe.com HORIZON ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES 3 (888) 815-9119 www.horizonllc.com JAEE ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES 4 (954) 476-8333 www.jaeeenvironmental.com PFAS FORUM 2 pfasforum.org SiREM 8 (866)251-1747 www.siremlab.com ST. JOHNS RIVERKEEPER 16 (904) 256-7591 www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org UNIV OF FLORIDA TREEO CENTER 11 (352) 392-9570 www.doce.ufl.edu/treeo VERTEBRAE WELL SYSTEMS 2 www.vertebraewells.com

16 December 2019/January 2020 Florida Specifier