Florida entered the reclaimed water arena with the construction of the Tallahassee Reclaimed Water Farm in 1966. In l977, the city of St. Petersburg build the first urban, reclaimed system in the United States.* By 1987, effluent discharge to the Tampa Bay ceased. This made the city of St. Petersburg the first major utility in the United States to achieve zero discharge of effluent to surface waters.

Florida reuses roughly half of its treated wastewater, or 725 million gallons per day – the most of any state. It has been one of the top-ten fastest-growing states over the past decade. Maintaining adequate freshwater supplies for development, consumption, and tourism is a major challenge.… Read More

Can I do this? The thoughts of self-doubt crept into my mind as I pulled up to take my first boot camp class. I’ve always considered myself to be in good shape. Nearly a decade of working outside in the resort industry, teaching sailing, doing waterski shows, and being on my feet six days a week kept me pretty lean. But then again that was nearly eight years ago, in my twenties, my “former” self if you will. The current version is less lean, more tied to a desk job… and the joys of a few beers and too much barbeque.… Read More

A writer once summed it up so well: “The easiest part is finding topics and the hardest is facing the blank screen.” That writer is our own John Gee, whom I like to call the Andy Rooney of the Old Northeast. John, along with twenty-some other salt-of-the earth wordsmiths, are considered family here at the Northeast Journal. Whether they are brand new and you haven’t read their work yet (look for Josh Keeler’s Palladium article in the next issue), or they’ve written for virtually every issue since the Journal’s inception – thank you Will Michaels – we appreciate each and every one of them.… Read More

We’ve all heard the phrase “life is short; live today as if it is your last day; dance as if no one is watching.” We know we may eventually succumb to sickness or disease. Many of us are aware of the numerous types of illnesses and diseases in our world. At any time, on any given day, and at any given age, unfortunately any of us could be diagnosed with a disease. This happened to Cole.

Cole Eicher started vomiting during the mornings of his Thanksgiving break in 2013. In January of 2014 during a soccer tournament, the same symptoms returned and Cole told his dad he did not feel well enough to continue to play.… Read More