TO: Indian River County Board of County Commissioners
THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr, County Administrator
Sean C. Lieske, Director of Utility Services
FROM: Howard G. Richards, PE, Manager - Capital Projects
DATE: October 15, 2025
SUBJECT: Review of America’s Water Infrastructure Act Risk and Resilience Assessment Updates, IRCDUS Project ID 00.24.518
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BACKGROUND
Indian River County Department of Utility Services (IRCDUS) provides water, wastewater, and reuse services to major portions of Indian River County (IRC), including the City of Sebastian and Town of Orchid. IRCDUS’ water system is the largest in the County with a combined annual average Consumptive Use Permit (CUP) of 12.838 million gallons per day (MGD) that serves a population of over 110,000 across an urban service area (USA) of 96.44 square miles.
On October 23, 2018, America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) was signed into law. Section 2013 of AWIA amended the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to require community water systems (CWS) serving more than 3,300 people to develop or update risk and resilience assessments (RRA) and emergency response plans (ERP). CWS were required to self-certify, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the completion of their AWIA-compliant RRA and ERP by specified deadlines based on the population served. Thereafter, CWS must review, revise where applicable, and recertify their RRA and ERP to the US EPA every five years from the original deadlines specified in the law.
Per the AWIA population thresholds, IRCDUS is considered a large CWS (serving over 100,000 people). IRCDUS certified completion of its RRA during the inaugural round of AWIA on March 16, 2020, which then set the fir...
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