- April 23, 2024
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Volusia County Council Jeff Brower's hopes for a county ordinance to prohibit a "toilet to tap" initiative were flushed away when his council members approved a motion to never discuss the issue again — or at least not until a new council has been sworn into office.
At the council's meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 18, Brower requested a supplemental item be placed on the agenda regarding a direct potable water reuse ordinance. Brower said his intention was to "clear up some public misunderstanding" about blackwater reuse and to lay out what the county could legally do in response. This wasn't the first time Brower had brought the issue forward; on Aug. 16, Councilwoman Heather Post — who was absent at the Oct. 18 meeting — made a motion to direct the county to look at a charter amendment to regulate blackwater, but it died for lack of a second.
According to a county memo from Aug. 15, state law preempts local governments from prohibiting potable water reuse in many areas, and Senate Bill 64 requires local governments to authorize potable reuse water graywater technology "under specific circumstances." Graywater includes waste from baths, bathroom faucets and laundries. The county memo states that, while Volusia can't prohibit blackwater technology countywide, it could do so within its utility service area.
Only the city of Daytona Beach has proposed a toilet to tap initiative, in 2018. The initiative has not been pursued further. In 2020, the state directed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to start drafting future rules for potable reuse.
Brower said that by adopting an ordinance against blackwater technology, the county would provide a template for municipalities to adopt in the future, as well as it would keep the focus on the acquifer.
"I think this takes our eye off it," Brower said. "I think if we allow toilet to tap to go along, it says we're just going to keep developing the way that we are and worry about the water later, because we can always drink toilet to tap. I think our focus needs to be on conservation, on the way that we grow, where we're growing, preserving our water."
He argued that an anti-toilet to tap ordinance would improve tourism and therefore better the economy.
But Councilman Ben Johnson said he believed they were trying to find a solution for a nonexistent problem.
"Nobody's talking about this," Johnson said. "The first we ever heard about it was Mr. Brower, frankly, you bringing it up, and it's all been political."
Brower argued that the state has indicated it is coming in the future, and that now would be time to work on measures to preempt it. Johnson said the issue could be discussed in January 2023, when the new council has been sworn in. He is not running for reelection. Brower said he would bring it up again.
Johnson's motion passed 4-1, with Brower voting against. In addition to Post, Councilman Danny Robins was also absent.
After the vote, Councilwoman Barb Girtman said she said discussing the issue wasn't an issue with her, but that she felt there was no reason or urgency to bring it up again now.
"I don't know what the reasonings are," she said. "I'm not going to make assumptions about what they are, but I'm not sure why you brought it back at this time when there's no critical issue in the next 90 days to address when we have so many other critical issues on our table, coming two weeks behind a major hurricane."
