On October 19, 2010, Florida Earth will conduct the first of three forums in its Water Choices Forum Series.  This first installment will be at UCF’s Fairwinds Alumni Center in Orlando, with the second in South Florida in February and the third in early summer 2011 in either Jacksonville or Tallahassee.  Click here for the Water Choices I brochure.  Over the past several years, water quality regulations have gotten more stringent and will continue to be a compliance challenge. Recent EPA rulings and court decisions around the Clean Water Act have added to the concern stakeholders are expressing concerning this issue. The Water Choices Series will offer the opportunity for participants to engage in a meaningful conversation that offers ideas on how to deal with these requirements. Beginning with the Forum at the University of Central Florida, two more will be held in February and July 2011.  All these forums will have CEU/CLE’s available from the Florida Bar, FSLA, FAPA and other organizations.

We will start off the day by asking the question “How Much is It Worth?”  Dr. Bobby McCormick, BB&T Economics Scholar, Clemson University will lead the discussion from an economics perspective.   Doug Robison, Vice President of PBS&J, will then lead a panel on defining the challenges which include EPA’s Nutrient Numeric Criteria, controversial court decisions and TMDL regulations.  Next, several case studies of successful water quality projects will be highlighted.  After lunch, Don Upton of Fairfield Index, Inc. in Tampa, will then conduct an audience participation session where ideas on how to deal with increased regulations will be greenlighted.  One of the products from the Forum Series will be a world-wide compendium of water quality projects that have been successful or have not been successful, but have value in learning from them.  What we are in essence doing is creating a type of think-tank venue for stakeholders to come up with ways of dealing with and, hopefully, getting ahead of the curve of water issues.

Partners already in the project are the big three WMD’s, DEP, Florida Farm Bureau, Florida Association of Counties, Florida League of Cities, PBS&J, Miller Legg, UF, UCF and others.  Click here for sponsonship information.  We believe that a positive well thought out and executed series of forums can greatly help the State of Florida. 

Florida-Holland 2009 Connection Team Video.

Visit the "Green Living in Florida" website, funded in part by an FEF Grant