Experts are forecasting a busier-than-normal hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. As the community checks the status of storm supplies, the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) is stocked and prepared to provide uninterrupted service before, during and after a storm. The department has fuel and water treatment supply reserves to operate on auxiliary power at the three plants to ensure uninterrupted service to its nearly 2.3 million customers for two weeks without supplemental deliveries. In 2017, during Hurricane Irma, water service was never impacted, and a precautionary boil water order was not issued for WASDs service area. When verifying what hurricane supplies you need to replenish, it is unnecessary to add bottled water to your shopping list.

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. - A precautionary No Contact with Water Advisory is being issued to avoid recreational water activities including swimming, fishing and boating for all beaches within Virginia Key, Key Biscayne and Fisher Island. A temporary electrical power outage at the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD)'s Central District Wastewater Treatment Plant resulted in an overflow of fully treated, chlorinated effluent from the plant's pump station into the waterway immediately adjacent to the facility, otherwise known as shrimp lagoon. WASD staff switched the plant to generator power and within an hour had reset the pump station. However, approximately 100,000 gallons of the fully treated, chlorinated effluent entered surface water. The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County and the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources are testing the affected waters and the advisory remains in effect until two consecutive days of clear testing occur after repairs are completed.