ACEC Florida: Striving Toward Sustainability

We’re excited to partner with Engineering Florida in this issue to showcase how Florida communities, agencies and engineering firms are positioning the state for a sustainable future.

Several of our ACEC Florida committees are keeping track of many of these measures. Here’s a brief wrap-up.

ENERGY: PLOTTING MORE SUSTAINABLE PROGRAMSBy Bill Bradford, PE, Energy Committee Chair

Energy and sustainability are extremely important topics throughout Florida and the world. Engineering firms and individual engineering disciplines are rapidly addressing the growing importance of sustainable design, energy conservation and diversification in the work they do on a daily basis.

In October, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recorded the January to September 2023 period as the warmest such year-to-date period on record – in fact, September 2023 was warmer than the average July from 2001 to 2010. Shortly after this information was released, participating nations at the recent COP-28 conference in Dubai acknowledged the dangers caused by global warming.

This national and international attention to energy and sustainability is causing a groundswell of interest in engineering disciplines throughout Florida. As a result, Florida colleges and universities are creating numerous energy and sustainability programs to address these topics for students interested in pursuing these disciplines.

Examples include:

• The University of Florida’s Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment is focusing on sustainable engineering solutions

• Florida Institute of Technology offers a Bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Studies

• The Florida Solar Energy Center is administered by the University of Central Florida.

ACEC Florida and the Florida Engineering Society are adapting to this keen interest statewide in energy and sustainability. The ACEC Florida/FES Joint Energy Committee was formed years ago to provide ongoing education on resource efficiency and environmental stewardship and hosts monthly meetings with leading speakers from throughout the U.S. who provide presentations on these topics.

Recent speakers have included a representative of the Nuclear Energy Institute who discussed Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs), a developer of over $6 billion of renewable energy projects throughout the United States, the Senior Director of Decarbonization for Florida Power and Light who discussed their goals to move from reaching Net Zero Emissions to reaching Real Zero Emissions and many others.

ENVIRONMENT: RESILIENT FLORIDA STRENGTHENS ENDEAVORSBy Michael DelCharco, P.E., CFM, Environmental Committee Chair

In the world of engineering, we've all heard the term "resiliency" tossed around like confetti at a parade. It's become so common that it's practically wallpaper in our conversations.

But you know what? We're not complaining! Why? Because where there's talk of resilience, there's often funding to back it up. So, let's roll with it. Let's embrace the buzz and make it our own.

Fortunately for us, Florida is leading the nation in coordinating resiliency. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1954 into law on May 12, 2021. This extensive legislation establishes a unified strategy for bolstering resilience along Florida's coastal and inland areas.

The Resilient Florida initiative strengthens our endeavors to safeguard inland waterways, coastlines, and shores, which serve as crucial natural barriers against rising sea levels. This legislation marks the most substantial investment in Florida's history aimed at readying communities for the effects of rising sea levels, more severe storms, and increased flooding.

Within the ACEC Florida Environmental Committee, the Water Resources subcommittee has promoted those previously mentioned resiliency efforts for years. Regular meetings with the state’s water management districts, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers give us meaningful dialog with those agencies as they develop rulemaking, establish policies, work out technical methodologies, and discuss contract and procurement issues.

LAND DEVELOPMENT: SUSTAINABLE APPROACHES TO NON-POTABLE IRRIGATIONBy Greg Stevens, P.E., Land and Development Committee Chair

Let’s take a look at how the developers of the 47-square-mile Lakewood Ranch master-planned community have been committed to the sustainable management of water resources within Southwest Florida.

Lakewood Ranch has consistently ranked as the second largest master-planned community in the U.S., with 2,000 to 2,500 new home sales per year in the past few years. This type of growth demands extensive irrigation, and Lakewood Ranch responded early in the process by creating Braden River Utilities (BRU) to plan and construct the necessary infrastructure to be self-sufficient in providing their own irrigation needs to serve future buildout.

BRU exclusively provides non-potable water for outdoor irrigation of lawns, landscapes, parks, and golf courses. As such, potable water and new individual wells are prohibited as water sources for outdoor irrigation.

In addition to providing master planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of non-potable irrigation to Lakewood Ranch, BRU manages a diverse portfolio of non-potable resources, including dozens of onsite surface water ponds and community groundwater wells. The utility also receives reclaimed wastewater from the City of Sarasota, the City of Bradenton, and Manatee County. An additional contract for reclaimed water is currently being negotiated with Sarasota County.

In addition, the Lakewood Ranch Stewardship District (LRSD) in coordination with BRU received an Innovative Technology Grant from the FDEP that successfully demonstrated the absorption of phosphorus using an activated carbon media. As a result, reclaimed wastewater treated by these passive nutrient reduction technologies has consistently met the advanced water treatment standard for nitrogen and phosphorus prior to distribution for irrigation uses.

The annual total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) load reductions associated with the beneficial reuse of alternative water supplies by BRU indicate an average annual reduction of approximately 41,000 pounds of TN and 4,700 pounds of TP since 2014. Without these nutrient reductions, the nutrient loads would be applied to Sarasota Bay and Tampa Bay.

The BRU system also incorporates the latest technology in telemetry controls and valves to assure that the non-potable water is directed on demand to the areas within Lakewood Ranch as needed with reliability and efficiency.

This community, in conjunction with local and state regulatory agencies and the design consultant team has set a high standard of sustainability and creativity for their non-potable water supply systems to serve the future.