Charles A. Black Water Supply Facility

The WRWSA’s first water supply facility is located in Citrus County and named for Charles A. Black. Raised in Gainesville, he attended the University of Florida, received a B.A. Degree in environmental engineering and had a distinguished career specializing in water supply and treatment. His professional career spanned almost six decades and included the national presidency of the prestigious American Water Works Association, membership in numerous national and state engineering, water resource, pollution control and sanitary engineering societies and associations as well as the Royal Society of Health in Great Britain. Mr. Black was appointed by two Governors to serve on several regional agencies, including the Withlacoochee Regional Planning Council, the Coastal Rivers Basin Board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) as well as the Governing Board of SWFWMD. He served as Chairman of the SWFWMD Governing Board for several years in the early 1990s.

As part of his service to SWFWMD, Mr. Black set a goal of strengthening the development of regional water supply authorities within SWFWMD’s jurisdiction. SWFWMD is the only water management district in the state that has worked to help create and foster regional water supply authorities (RWSA) over its entire service area. Mr. Black’s service during the late 1980s and early 1990s as a member and later as Chairman of the SWFWMD Governing Board provided the leadership to stimulate new directions for the West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority (now Tampa Bay Water). In addition, his personal intervention and leadership resulted in moving both the Peace River / Manasota RWSA in southwest Florida and the Withlacoochee RWSA in north central Florida into actual water production.

Mr. Black was the prime mover and advocate for SWFWMD to provide funding to both RWSAs to build and/or purchase water supply facilities. In the Withlacoochee Region, Mr. Black secured almost $5 million for the engineering, design and construction of the water supply facility located in Citrus County. The development of this facility was the first step toward implementation of the Authority’s Regional Water Supply Plan and a key ingredient in making the Authority self-sufficient. In addition to securing funding for the Authority, Mr. Black chaired an intergovernmental design and review committee to work with the consulting hydrologists and engineers in development of the well fields, pipeline interconnects, ground storage tanks and water treatment facilities. The water supply facility was dedicated in 1992 and with Citrus County’s blessing it was appropriately named for Charles A. Black who played such a large role in its development.