Water Facilities Funding
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News Flash
On October 1, 2008, the Department’s Bureau of Water
Facilities Funding went into production with the OCULUS
electronic document management system. This will provide the
public and staff easy access to program documents. The
process of scanning all of the Bureau’s documents will
likely take years but will provide a historical background
when complete. All documents received after October 1, 2008
will be scanned into OCULUS as they are received and
processed. To access files click on the OCULUS link under
“Other Links and News”.
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The
Water Facilities Funding Program is home to the nation's
most efficient Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) and
the Drinking Water Funding Section; which includes the Drinking Water
State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Program, the Water Supply Restoration
Program (WSRP),
and the Operator Certification Program (OCP).
The wastewater program began in 1957 with the
Federal construction grants program. This program had a major impact on wastewater
management in Florida. From relatively modest beginnings in 1957, with a grant to the City
of Naples for $74,000, the program accelerated dramatically with the passage of the Clean
Water Act in 1972. During the next 16 years Florida received an average of $125 million
grant dollars per year. Federal allotments to the State of Florida have totaled over $2
billion dollars. When the grant applicants' local share is taken into account, over $3.1
billion dollars was spent for construction of needed wastewater management facilities.
Amendments to the Clean Water Act have since phased out the grant program and replaced it
with the SRF program. The first loans to the Clean Water SRF were made in 1989 to the City
of Tampa for $17,928,000. The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996 established a Drinking Water
SRF program to protect the safety of drinking water. The Drinking Water SRF made its first
grant in August 1998 to Lloyd Water Works, and its first loan to Tradewinds Utilities in
October 1998.
The Safe Drinking Water Act also required the development of Operator
Certification guidelines, specifying the minimum standards for certification of the
operators of community and nontransient noncommunity public water systems. These
guidelines were published on February 5, 1999. The Operator Certification program
was transferred back to DEP in October 1997.
The Water Supply Restoration Program began in 1983 in
response to the ethylene dibromide contamination in Central Florida. The program was
transferred to the Water facilities Funding in 1996. Further information on individual
Water Facilities Funding programs can
be obtained by selecting a program from the list shown to the right.
Additional Information
Sponsors of
drinking water or wastewater projects that are seeking federal
and/or state assistance can now provide information for
projects
here. This information will be reviewed by the
various funding programs and the most appropriate program for
each project will be assigned the lead role. A representative
from that program will contact you with information on program
requirements, timeframes, and funding levels. For more
information on available funding, see the
Florida Rural Water Association's brochure.
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