City Receives Award of Excellence from American Water Works Association

The City of Oviedo received the Water Conservation Award of Excellence for Best in Class category during the Florida Section of the American Water Works Association (FSAWWA) annual conference held in Orlando on December 2, 2009.  The City of Oviedo Utility is classified as a mid-sized utility, serving 30,000 residents. 

The Oviedo City Council was formally presented with the award at its January 4, 2009 meeting.  Shown in the photo (from left to right) is Utilities manager Josef Grusauskas, Council Member Schenck, Deputy Mayor Persampiere, Public Works Director Anthony Segreto, Water Conservation Coordinator Jay Stainer, Mayor Andrews, Council Member Henken and Council Member Britton.  

The H2Oviedo Conservation Incentive Program is a unique program that rewards citizens for retrofitting their homes and yards to save water.  The program helps off-set the cost to redevelop existing homestead high water use yards and provides a $50.00 to $100.00 reward to meet and exceed water savings goals.  It is a win-win environmental program for the resident’s and the Utility demonstrating good water stewardship while allowing esthetically beautiful landscapes.  

The H2Oviedo program had 36 households meet the challenge to change their yards and watering habits to become more water efficient in 2009.  These homeowners established an average 44% water savings over historic use.  This savings equates to 1.8 million gallons of water per year.  With this savings, the participants become ambassadors, demonstrating to their friends and neighbors that Florida-friendly homes are economical and don’t need to sacrifice community esthetics to save water.