About Us

History of the FGUA

The Authority was formed in 1999 through an Interlocal Agreement between Brevard, Lee, Polk, and Sarasota counties. These four local governments wanted to make the best use of their common responsibilities and power to acquire, own, improve, operate, and maintain water and wastewater facilities. By forming the FGUA, these counties used resource sharing to provide drinking and wastewater service to their citizens at a lower cost and with more local management.

Since 1999, the counties making up the FGUA have changed. Today Collier, Lee and Pasco counties have systems in the FGUA, joining resources to serve over 30,000 customers annually. The customer base and service area of the FGUA continues to grow. The FGUA plans to make over $121 million in additional improvements over the next five years.

• Download a more in-depth history of the FGUA (PDF). • Read recent news releases and articles about the FGUA in action on our News page.

The FGUA’s Structure

Today a seven-member Board of Directors governs the FGUA, with representatives from Lee, Polk, Citrus, Pasco, Hendry, and DeSoto counties, and the Town of Dundee. These Board Members meet monthly to represent the member systems and establish policy on issues such as expansion, rates, environmental resource management, and long-range planning. Each Board Member is a county employee appointed by their local government. Their expertise in water and sewer utility management makes the Board a very important part of the FGUA structure. In addition, the Board works hard to make sure the FGUA serves your best interests.

• View more information on the FGUA Board and staff at our Contact page.

Community Services Team

Community Services Manager: Kevin Grace
407/629-6900 Telephone

Lehigh Acres And Golden Gate Community Services Representative: Barbara Kerby
Barbara's duties include water presentations to interested associations and schools, creating partnerships with other agencies and utilities, and working with the customers. Ms. Kerby has more than 20 years of experience in customer service, publishing and public relations from both the Washington DC metro area and southwest Florida. As a resident of Lehigh Acres, Ms Kerby is proud to work to resolve customer concerns, providing presentations on water issues for clubs, associations, and schools. She will represent the FGUA at community events in Lehigh Acres.
239/368-1615 Telephone

Pasco Community Services Representative: Matthew Rihs
Matthew acts as the liaison to FGUA customers in the FGUA Pasco Utility System service area. Mr. Rihs conducts presentations to community organizations, provides water conservation education opportunities for local students, promotes water conservation through a moisture sensor conservation program and addresses various customer inquiries or concerns. Mr. Rihs has considerable community outreach, constituent service and communications experience working in the private, public and non-profit industries. Mr. Rihs welcomes the opportunity to serve local customers and strengthen relationships with those in the Pasco service area.
727/372-0115 Telephone

Service with a smile

By Barbara Kerby, Lehigh Acres CSR
The FGUA Community Service Representative (CSR) is your local spokesperson for the FGUA system. Think of us as your first contact for any reason. We are here to answer questions and supply information, including making presentations and providing a booth at local events. We can answer questions on any FGUA project or service. If we don’t have an immediate answer, we can get it for you quickly.

The CSR helps promote community involvement in the FGUA decision-making process by making sure our customers know about important meetings and public hearings. We can be your voice; if you can’t attend the meeting in person, we will pass along your opinion to the FGUA board. We are located in the customer service centers and have an open door to all of our valued customers. You can always call or come by the local office and ask for the CSR.

My fellow CSRs say that the best part of our job is that we live in the communities we represent. We know the area, we know the people, and we understand the challenges our customers face, since we have the same experiences. We look forward to meeting you!

The FGUA’s Mission

The FGUA’s mission focuses on providing critical water and sewer utility services to its customers. To combine the benefits of public ownership with private-sector efficiency, a contractor provides the day-to-day operations of FGUA facilities and management. Out-sourcing these responsibilities saves the FGUA—and, ultimately, the customers—valuable money since personnel, administrative, and other business costs are a fraction of the traditional costs. The system manager, who acts much like a local administrator, provides overall management—including system management, financial services, and construction planning and supervision. Plant operation and customer service and billing are also provided via contract.

One of the main goals of the FGUA is water conservation—through consumer education and responsible system supervision. We work hard to implement all new technologies that help us use water more efficiently, investing in new technologies and proven water conservation methods such as reclaimed water, reverse osmosis techniques, and redundancy “looping” that shares resources between facilities. The FGUA also produces water conservation materials for customers and offers facility tours. We released a school-based Water Foundations Curriculum for teachers so children of all ages can begin to practice good environmental habits.