The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed water quality standards in the State of Florida that would set a series of numeric limits on the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen pollution, also known as “nutrient” that would be allowed in Florida’s lakes, rivers, streams, springs and canals.

BOMA was in attendance at one of the recent public hearings conducted by the EPA and has confirmed that the EPA’s rule, and resulting compliance requirements, would apply to lakes and retention ponds on private property that are currently classified as Class III Surface Water by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

EPA is currently in the Public Comment period and has announced that they are extending the Public Comment Period for an additional 30 days. The public comment period will now close on April 28, 2010. They will also be holding additional public hearings in Florida. The dates, locations, and times of these hearings have yet to be confirmed.

Please see the attached Fact Sheet from EPA and the links below.

EPA site on the proposed rule: http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/rules/florida

Public Comment Site:

http://www.regulations.gov - Enter the following in the “Enter Keyword or ID:” box

EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0596

Our sub-committee needs to hear from managers and owners of property that have lakes and/or ponds that would be affected by this rule.

Thank you.

Murray Greene - Water Sub-Committee Chair

Click here to read the outline

University of Florida’s Center for Training, Research and Education for Environmental Occupations (UF/TREEO)

All CFC (R11 and R12) and HCFC (notably R22 and R123) are being phased out by the Montreal Protocol that many nations have adopted as law.  The phase out does not mean that they will disappear completely as enough gets produced by the allowed levels in the protocol for equipment service. 

The phase out has several consequences, mainly, the sharp increase in the cost of refrigerant that are no longer mainstream (such as R22 for whom no equipment will be manufactured after 2010). This increase should be accounted in the operational budget in the facilities that use them.

R123 (used mainly in centrifugal chillers) will be not be phased out until 2020 and then, with the stocks that will be allowed to exist for maintenance, should be available until the machine that uses it becomes obsolete.

The  future refrigerants will be geared towards environmental friendliness. However, these new refrigerants will have a negative impact in HVAC equipment efficiency.  This impact is expected to be offset partially by improvement in design and manufacturing technology of the equipment itself.

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Savings on Water Charges:
OUC charges you rates for your irrigation based on “irrigatable acreage”. If you have not provided them with the correct acreage of landscaped area, they will charge you for

the higher rates. Once we got our information corrected in their system, our monthly irrigation bills decreased by as much as 40% on some properties.

For example, if OUC has you in their system as a 1 acre sight but you actually are irrigating 5 acres, you are being charged way too much, because their system thinks you are

using too much water for that 1 acre. Ask your landscapers to tell you how many s.f. they are maintaining – they usually know it down to the exact s.f.!!

Also, OUC will perform an irrigation audit for your property and provide feedback on the current conditions (number of zones, the amount of time each zone runs, etc) and give

you guidance on zones that run too long or too often. This service was provided free of charge when we had it done in 2005.

Lastly, and most certainly the GREENEST, don’t forget to install and maintain those rain sensor gauges on your irrigation system. No reason to irrigate when it’s been raining 2” every day for the last month!!

Luci Smith, RPA - Senior Property Manager
EastGroup Properties
2966 Commerce Park Drive, Suite 450
Orlando, FL 32819

407-284-6543 Phone - 407-284-6545 Fax