Jay Fink, Director, Miami‑Dade Department of Water and Sewer

Invest: spoke with Jay Fink, director of the Miami-Dade Department of Water and Sewer, about infrastructure modernization, resilience, conservation, and the department’s role in supporting Miami-Dade’s continued growth. “We continue to build the systems that will meet future growth and serve generations to come,” Fink said.

How has your professional background shaped your leadership approach and long-term vision for the department?

I started my career on the private side, working for a small engineering firm while I was still in college, and worked my way up to second in command before moving into the public sector. I began in municipal government as the operations manager for water and sewer for the city of Gloucester in Massachusetts.

I later became city engineer while still holding that operations role. Since the 1990s, my career has centered on infrastructure systems, including water, sewer, public works, transportation, and stormwater. That range of experience helps shape how I approach Miami-Dade County’s water and sewer needs today. We have to apply engineering principles while also taking advantage of new technologies. Years ago, if there was a pipe issue, crews often had to dig it up to understand the problem. Today, we can use cameras and other tools to inspect pipes from the inside.

That mindset shapes our long-term vision. As we prepare for future stresses, including climate change, sea level rise, and more intense storms. Our infrastructure must be resilient enough to withstand future conditions and continue operating after major storm events.

What are the operational complexities involved in delivering drinking water and wastewater services at this scale?

Miami-Dade’s system includes more than 8,500 miles of water and 4,100 miles of sewer pipes, more than 1,000 sewer pump stations, three water treatment facilities that treat and deliver, on average, 300 million gallons daily, and three wastewater treatment plants that process and dispose of 300 million gallons per day. Some of these are among the largest facilities in the country, so managing the system requires constant attention to operations, maintenance, upgrades, and emergency response.

Some parts of the system are old. One of our water treatment plants turned 100 years old last year. At some point, maintaining older systems becomes less practical than upgrading to newer, more efficient technologies that reduce electricity usage, chemical consumption, and operating costs.

The challenge is that water and sewer services cannot stop while we modernize the system. Customers expect water to be available at all hours, and wastewater flows do not stop. That means redundancy is essential. If one pump is required to operate a station, we need another pump available for maintenance or in case of failure so service can continue around the clock.

Continuity of operations is one of our biggest priorities. When we take a pipe offline, we must understand how that affects the rest of the system. We may need to move water through another part of the network or increase pressure elsewhere, but that can create additional risk if not managed correctly.

These examples are magnified when you take into consideration that Miami presents unique challenges, including exposure to severe weather events such as king tide flooding, droughts, and hurricanes, as well as hosting large national and international events. To meet these demands, we strategically position our teams for rapid response and maintain comprehensive emergency preparedness plans. Once those plans are in place, continuous training and clear communication are essential to ensuring we can respond effectively under any condition.

Ultimately, ensuring reliable service 24/7 requires a disciplined, data-driven approach, supported by a highly skilled workforce committed to protecting public health and maintaining system performance every day.

What are the primary goals of the department’s capital improvement program?

We have an $8.9 billion capital improvement program, driven by decades of deferred maintenance, regulatory requirements, and the need to modernize aging infrastructure. One of the major drivers was a 2014 consent decree from the Environmental Protection Agency requiring Miami-Dade County to complete certain wastewater projects.

Another major driver is legislation. Regulations have changed for drinking water, wastewater treatment, and the use of ocean outfalls for wastewater disposal purposes. 

The primary goals of the CIP are to upgrade treatment facilities, modernize aging infrastructure, and expand system capacity. The CIP program also serves as an economic driver by reinvesting in the local community through partnerships with contractors, engineers, and service providers.

Historically, two of our three wastewater plants treated wastewater and discharged it into the ocean. Under ocean outfall legislation, that approach is no longer allowable, so we have had to shift to other solutions, including deep well injection.

Deep well injection involves pumping treated wastewater about 2,800 feet below the surface into the boulder zone, below aquifers and other water sources. That requires different infrastructure and new requirements for pumps, treatment, disinfection, regulatory review, and long-term operations.

Every major plant project must be reviewed and approved by regulators, including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Last year, with the support of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, we moved roughly $600 million worth of projects forward. While part of that spending goes toward materials, much of it supports jobs and economic activity. During replacement and modernization, we also incorporate resilience measures, including elevating critical infrastructure above flood elevation standards to help address flooding risks and long-term challenges such as sea level rise. 

What strategies is the department using to promote conservation and long-term water sustainability?

Miami-Dade County recently went through a drought advisory, and conditions remain dry, although we hope seasonal rainfall will help. From a water supply standpoint, we are not as directly affected because groundwater is our primary source, but conservation remains critical.

We have a comprehensive conservation program that includes public education. We recently held a poster contest with more than 1,800 students focused on water conservation. The broader goal is to encourage students to take the message home and adopt more mindful water use.

We also conduct our own leak detection across the system. We identify leaks, prioritize repairs, and consider both the significance of the leak and the disruption caused by fixing it. Some leaks are obvious, such as a major water main break. Others remain underground and may not surface, but they can still represent significant water loss. In 2025, the department saved more than 2.4 million gallons of water by prioritizing repairs after assessing the condition of more than 8,500 miles of water mains.

Water reuse is another major part of our sustainability strategy. Under the Ocean Outfall Legislation, we are developing projects that will reuse treated wastewater at our treatment plants. Instead of discharging that effluent, we will use it to cool facilities through cooling towers before final disposal. At the end of the project, we expect to reuse about 100 million gallons per day of wastewater effluent that otherwise would have been discharged.

Coupled with a roughly 15 million gallon per day partnership with Florida Power & Light, this will make Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department one of the largest reusers of wastewater on the East Coast.

What priorities will define the department’s success over the next five to 10 years?

Completing mandated capital improvement projects is a major priority. We expect to satisfy the consent decree requirements and meet Ocean Outfall Legislation requirements while continuing to address other infrastructure needs that have exceeded their useful life.

Growth is another major factor. Miami-Dade County continues to expand, and we must ensure that our water and sewer systems can support future demand. On the wastewater side, programs such as Connect 2 Protect extend sanitary sewer service into areas currently served by septic systems.

Septic systems are a major challenge in a county with high groundwater and increasing sea level rise. As groundwater rises, septic systems become less effective, and wastewater can find its way into canals, rivers, and eventually Biscayne Bay. Miami-Dade County still has about 120,000 on-site sewer systems, and we have already connected about 11,000 septic systems.

We are also focused on meeting evolving regulatory requirements while advancing solutions that work to benefit the environment. Through our Ocean Outfall Legislation (OOL) program, we have already reduced phosphorus discharges by 2.9 million pounds, exceeding required targets, and we are on track to significantly expand reuse capacity. As of March 2026, forty nine percent of OOL projects are completed or under construction.

Our work also aligns with Mayor Levine Cava’s Thrive305 Action Plan. Internally, we have a five-year strategic plan called WAVE, or Water, a Vision for Excellence. It focuses on organizational culture, customer service, maintaining a future-ready utility, and becoming a more efficient and innovative organization.

How does water and sewer infrastructure support Miami-Dade’s continued economic and population growth?

Water is life. We touch every home, every business, and nearly every aspect of Miami-Dade County, whether through water supply, fire suppression, or wastewater removal. Without forward-looking water and sewer planning, growth would not be possible.

As Miami-Dade continues to attract residents, businesses, and investment, we have to plan for that growth. Without the ability to expand our system and provide water and sewer services, there would not be growth.

We also work with developers through programs that help coordinate infrastructure needs. In some cases, the first developer in an area may need to build larger infrastructure, such as a water main, sewer main, or pump station, to support development. Future developments may then connect to that same infrastructure without having carried the original capital burden.

We look at ways to partner with developers so they can contribute proportionally to the infrastructure needed to support growth. We cannot charge ratepayers for infrastructure upgrades that are solely for development, but by partnering with developers, we can assist with system upgrades that support future growth.

At the end of the day, we continue to build the systems that will meet future growth and serve generations to come.