Mission Statement
The mission of the Conserve Florida Water Clearinghouse is to develop collaborative relationships with related programs, and to collect, analyze, and make available reliable information and technical assistance to public water supply utilities and water managers for use in developing effective and efficient water conservation programs.
Goals
The goals of the Clearinghouse are to:
Be the premier source in Florida of water conservation information for public water supply, drawing upon information and expertise from throughout the utility sector, the water management districts, the state university system, and other sources.
Help Florida become a national leader in water use efficiency.
Focus directly on Florida’s needs and users, but take advantage of opportunities to build on expertise and resources outside of Florida.
Serve public water supply utilities, water management districts, and other stakeholders in improving water use efficiency.
Objectives
The Clearinghouse, when fully implemented, will satisfy the following ten objectives:
1. Host and refine an interactive, web-based, water conservation Guide to assist public water supply utilities in developing goal-based water conservation plans which are tailored to their specific service areas and meet permitting requirements.
2. Host and develop an integrated statewide database with infrastructure for the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of quantitative and qualitative information on public water supply conservation programs and practices and their effectiveness.
3. Host and develop a searchable web-accessible library of historic and current water conservation studies and reports.
4. Provide a mechanism for benchmarking water conservation practices among utilities to determine and compare their effectiveness.
5. Provide a means for water conservation professionals to obtain technical assistance for under-standing, developing, and implementing effective and efficient water conservation projects or programs that will meet water management district regulatory requirements.
6. Make available analytical tools to allow the evaluation of water conservation programs and practices as an aid to selecting the best management practices. Incorporate these tools into the Guide.
7. Coordinate and maintain oversight of an applied research agenda to help develop innovative water conservation programs and practices.
8. Evaluate and enhance the water conservation Guide to improve results.
9. Publicize the importance of water conservation and the availability of Clearinghouse services to the water utility community.
10. Establish and grow collaborative relationships with related programs to enhance the effectiveness of the Clearinghouse to achieve its goals and objectives.
Clearinghouse Performance Targets for 2010
1. The Clearinghouse will seek to achieve the goal of having at least five utilities per district in the South Florida, St. Johns River, and Southwest Florida water management districts and one utility per district in the Suwannee River and Northwest Florida water management districts use the Initial Guide or EZ Guide to develop a conservation plan, or make substantial use of Guide Modules, by June 2010.
2. The Clearinghouse will continue development of independent or semi-independent modules for the EZ Guide with input from the water management districts and utilities on module design.
3. Refine the water audit section to include a more complete historical water use practices and a calibrated end use model of how water is being used. This model would include a macro level planning evaluation and the existing water audit.
4. Add a tracking component to the guide that compares projected and actual performance of the implemented conservation plan.
5. Have a complete version of EZ Guide that can be used for planning, CUP permitting, and tracking.
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