Pinellas County utility director outlines hurricane recovery, AMI rollout and lead‑free inventory

Jeremy Waugh, Pinellas County utility director, told the Tampa Bay Water board the county is still addressing infrastructure impacts from last year's hurricanes, including saltwater damage to above‑ground equipment in beach communities and unanticipated repair needs. Waugh said the county requested roughly $50,000,000 from FEMA for hardening and repairs and is reassessing additional impacts not previously accounted for. On customer relief, Waugh said the county deferred about $5,500,000 in billed amounts for customers affected by the storms and, as of the presentation, roughly $4.7 million of those deferrals had been repaid after payment plans. Waugh highlighted the county’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) program: a $72,000,000 project to replace approximately 130,000 meters; staff reported being ahead of schedule and under budget, with about 80–86% of meters considered complete for billing and operation. He said the AMI rollout includes hardware, cellular endpoints, backend servers and software, and has helped detect leaks and abnormal usage for customers. The county has visually inspected more than 114,000 water services as part of a lead and copper inventory and reported it has not identified lead service pipes at those inspected locations. Waugh also said the county is pursuing a managed aquifer recharge (MAR) well adjacent to John Chestnut Park near Lake Tarpon and expects permits soon.