Water Supply Certification Program

2015 NACo Achievement Award Winner

Miami-Dade County, Fla., FL

About the Program

Category: Planning (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

On January 11, 2011, the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) implemented a Water Supply Certification (WSC) Program to assure adequate water supply is available to all users of the WASD as required by Section 163.3180(2)(a) of the Florida Statutes, Policy CIE-5D and WS-2C in the County’s Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP), and in accordance with the permitted withdrawal capacity in the County’s 20-year Water Use Permit. The WSC is unique to the State of Florida. Based on comments received from other Utilities in the Southeast Region and State regulatory agencies, no other utility in the State has implemented such a Program. The policies in the County’s CDMP indicates that WASD is responsible for monitoring the availability of water supplies for all water users of the WASD and for implementing a system that links water supplies to the permitting of new development to assure adequate water supply is available to all its users. The WSC Program serves as a tool to monitor compliance with the County’s Water Use Permit, and allows WASD assess water supply availability for proposed County and local government’s CDMP Amendments to the future Land Use Map. The gallons of water reserved for a development activity is calculated according to the usage flows in Chapter 24, Section 24-43-1 of the Miami-Dade County Code. The WSC issued by WASD allows Building Officials to comply with the Florida Statutes requirements for water supply.