Sierra Club Florida Alert
Pass A Clean Springs Bill!Springs bill up for vote on Senate floor this week
Please call your Senator and urge
them to support SB 1576, and then call your Representative to urge them to take
up the Springs bill (which will be amended onto a bill that is moving in the
House) and pass it without any amendments.
This link will give you the contact information for your State
Senator and State Representative. Remember, phone calls are more effective than
emails which can easily be deleted.
For a long time the environmental community has had to play
nothing but defense. This session was
different because we had S 1576 Springs by Sen. Dean to work for. We haven’t gotten everything we asked for in
the bill, and we’ve had to compromise along the way, but the bill is a good
product. If we can get it passed without
being weakened at the last minute, it will be an important step forward for Florida ’s springs.
The situation:
Sierra and many other environmental organizations have been
involved with the bill since the fall of 2013. We have offered arguments and amendments,
consulted and critiqued, researched rules, and participated in enough
stakeholder meetings to build a picket fence around the Capitol. SB 1576 passed
all of its Senate Committees unanimously and is on the Special Order calendar
for a vote on the Senate floor on Wednesday, April 30.
The hang up, of course, is that the House version of the bill HB 1313 - Springs
by Rep. Brodeur (also of Seminole
County ) has not even been
heard in its first committee. We need to
pass SB 1576 out of the Senate and have the House take it up and pass it with
no bad amendments.
The Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries of Florida,
and the Florida Home Builders Association have been the lead opponents of the
bill from its inception. And they won’t
give up easily. They’ll use all their
influence to get the House to gut the bill and then pretend to be environmental
heroes.
But we’re not going to let that happen. If the House takes up the bill it will be in
front of every Representative and can’t be bottled up in committee. We will know who voted the right way for a
clean bill, and who voted the wrong way to gut it… and we’ll make sure everyone
is reminded in November.
Please contact your Senator and your Representative and urge
them to pass a clean Springs bill to clean up our Springs!
The bill has been changed since the last posting. Below is an explanation of what the bill
does. The summary is followed by a
detailed section by section analysis.
The full text of the bill can be seen here: Web Page | PDF
Summary
The bill provides that all of Florida ’s “Outstanding Florida Springs” (OFS) – all the first magnitude springs and
six others - are to be assessed for adequate water flow and level and for
pollution.
Initial Actions
DEP is to delineate a “spring protection and management
zone” (SPAMZ) for each OFS. This is an
area within a springshed where the Floridan Aquifer is vulnerable to sources of
contamination or reduced levels. These
SPAMZ are used throughout the bill to determine where the provisions of the
bill take effect.
DEP and WMDs are to set minimum flows and levels (MFLs) by
2015 – but extensions are possible all the way to 2022.
DEP is also to assess all OFS for nutrient impairment and to
establish total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) and basin management action plans
(BMAPs) for the SPAMZ of those OFS.
Minimum Flow and Minimum Level (MFL) Standards
The standard for determining the acceptable minimum water
flow and the minimum water level is the flow and level at which it would be harmful to the water resources or the
ecology of the area. (The current law is
the level at which it would be “significantly harmful”, so this is a more
stringent standard.)
If a spring does not meet the MFL or it is projected that it
will not meet its MFL within 20 years, the bill requires that a recovery or
prevention strategy be established and that it be designed to achieve the MFL
within 15 years, and also requires an annual progress report on achieving the
MFL to the Governor and the Legislature.
Nutrient levels
The standard for determining the acceptable nutrient load
for an OFS is 0.35 mg/L Total Nitrogen.
Many OFS exceed this level of nutrients by a wide margin. Jackson Blue, for example, has almost ten
times the allowed amount (3.42 mg/L), and the Rainbow Springs group in
When the nutrient level of an OFS is too high, DEP initiates
a BMAP that determines how much pollution is coming from each source or category
of nonpoint source and a plan is developed
to reduce the load from each by an amount that will get the nutrient level
below the standard for spring vents with in 15 years. Again, there is an annual progress report to
the Governor and Legislature on whether the BMAP and the projects being used to
implement it are working.
All communities within a SPAMZ of an impaired OFS must:
- adopt regulations that meet or exceed the requirements of the Model Ordinance for Florida-Friendly Fertilizer Use on Urban Landscapes (local governments are not preempted from adopting more stringent regulations than the Model Ordinance.)
- create and implement a OSTDS (septic tank) remediation plan (if septic tanks are identified as being a nutrient problem by DEP.) The remediation plan will be incorporated into the BMAP. Extensions of 5 years are available (10 years for rural areas of critical economic concern)
Wastewater, stormwater facilities, and agricultural
producers will all be assessed and included in the TMDL/BMAP and required to
meet their TMDLs within the 15 year timeframe. Extensions of 5 years are available (10 years
for rural areas of critical economic concern)
Funding
Funding to help meet the costs of upgrades, BMPs, or projects to meet MFL or pollution standards will be available from appropriations made each year by the Legislature. DEP will evaluate, rank, and select projects for funding on the basis of a “worst first” / “best bang for the buck” approach. Property owners with septic tanks will not be charged for the costs of upgrades or connection costs to a sanitary sewer.
Section by Section
analysis
Abbreviations
DACS –
Department of Agriculture and Consumer ServicesDEP – Department of Environmental Protection
DOH – Department of Health
GAA – General Appropriations Act (the Budget)
MFL - Minimum Flow and Level
OFS – Outstanding Florida Spring
OSTDS – Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal System (septic tank / drainfield system)
SPAMZ – Spring Protection and Management Zone
WMD – Water Management District
Sections
1, 2, and 7
MFLs The WMDs are required to complete MFLs for all covered springs, AND the standard is changed from "significantly harmful" to "harmful". Therefore, the MFLs should be set at a considerably higher level than is currently the case.
Similarly
the requirement for recovery and protection strategies is tied to the
"harm" standard.
The
establishment of MFLs is to be completed by 7/1/15 but is allowed to be
extended to 2022 (because NWFWMD has no flow information and the assumption is
that there should be five years of data for the MFL to be defensible… Of
course, the opportunity for delay is available to all WMDs.)
If there are springs affected by withdrawals from more than one WMD, the DEP establishes the MFL by 7/1/17.
At the
time an MFL is established, a recovery or prevention strategy must be adopted
simultaneously (if it is needed).
All
MFLs of OFS adopted prior to the effective date of the bill (7/1/14) must be
revised
By
7/1/17 and, if needed, recovery or prevention strategies must be adopted
simultaneously with the adoption of the revised MFL.
When it
is determined that an OFS needs a recovery or prevention strategy, the WMD or
DEP shall “expeditiously” adopt one.
If a
recovery or prevention strategy is needed the strategy must include:
- a listing of projects,
- priority listing,
- their costs, and
- how much the WMD will put up (all but
NFWMD and SRWMD must put up at least 25%.)
- estimated date of completion;
- estimate of each project’s benefit to
an OFS;
- map and legal description of SPAMZ;
- implementation plan to achieve adopted
MFL within 15 years (with 5 and 10 year milestones).
Local governments may apply for extensions of up to 5 years;
local governments in rural areas of critical economic concern may apply for
extensions of up to 10 years.
Section
3
Short title
“Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act”; creates a new “Part VIII” of chapter 373.
Section
4
Findings
and intentImportance of springs
Connection between water quantity and water quality
Importance of Springsheds
Need to act
Section
5
DefinitionsDepartment – DEP
Local Government - county or municipal government whose jurisdiction includes an Outstanding Florida Spring or its Spring protection and management zone
OSTDS – uses the DOH language
Outstanding Florida Spring (OFS) – all historic first magnitude springs and six others
Spring protection and management zone
Spring run
Springshed
Spring vent
Section 6
The bill requires DEP to delineate "springs protection and management zones" (SPAMZ) using best data available. Delineation is to be completed by 7/1/15 and maps and legal descriptions by 7/1/16.
(Section 7 was included with MFL
sections 1 and 2 above)
Water
Quality
Section 8Protection of water quality
DEP is to initiate the assessment of
the water quality of each Outstanding Florida Spring (OFS) for which an
impairment determination has not yet been made by 7/1/14. Assessments must be completed by 7/1/17
At the
same time a nutrient TMDL is adopted DEP shall initiate development of a
BMAP. For OFS with existing TMDLs the
DEP shall initiate the /development of a
BMAP by 7/1/14. If during the
development of the BMAP the DEP identifies septic systems as a nonpoint source
of pollution that needs addressing within a local government’s jurisdiction, it
notifies the local government within 30
days, and the local government is to develop a remediation plan for inclusion
in the BMAP.
The
BMAP is to be adopted within 3 years of its initiation and must include, at a
minimum:
- a listing of projects identified to
implement a nutrient TMDL,
- a list of projects in an OSTDS
remediation plan, if applicable
- priority ranking for each listed
project,
- estimated cost for each project
- estimated date of completion;
- the source and amount of financial
assistance to be made available by DEP, a WMD or other entity
- estimate of each project’s nutrient
load reduction;
- map and legal description of SPAMZ;
- identification of each point source and
category of nonpoint sources with an estimated allocation of the pollutant
load for each. (This determination will help in achieving the goal
of "Worst First".)
- implementation plan to achieve adopted
MFL within 15 years (with 5 and 10 year milestones).
Upon approval of an OSTDS remediation plan it shall be deemed incorporated into the BMAP
Local
governments may apply for extensions of up to 5 years; local governments in
rural areas of critical economic concern may apply for extensions of up to 10
years.
(more or less, the gist of the water quality
part of the bill starts here)
Localities
in SPAMZs must meet or exceed the Model Ordinance for lawn fertilizer within 6 months
of the delineation of SPAMZ (Localities
are NOT preempted from adopting more stringent regulations.) DEP is to adopt rules to implement this
paragraph and incorporate advancements or improvements in future rules
DEP,
DOH, and local governments identify OSTDS within each SPAMZ by 7/1/16 and
within 60 days provide the location of the septic systems to the local
government. If the local government has
been notified by DEP that the OSTDS need to be addressed in one year the local governments
are to develop an OSTDS remediation plan which says which systems need to be
upgraded, which need to connect to sewer, and which need no further
action. The plan must include a priority
ranking and must be submitted to DEP for approval.
DEP is
to consider at least the following when approving OSTDS remediation plans:
- The density of OSTDS
- The number of OSTDS
- The proximity of OSTDS to an OFS
- The estimated nutrient loading of the
OSTDSs or OSTDS
- The cost of the proposed remedial
action
If a
local government does not substantially comply, they may not be eligible for
funding.
Property
owners with an OSTDS may not be required to pay any of the costs of a system
inspection or for upgrading a system, or connection fees to a sanitary sewer.
Section
9
By
12/31/14 DEP is to adopt rules to evaluate, rank, and select projects eligible
for funding giving preference to those that will result in the greatest
improvement in water quality and quantity for the dollars spent. They shall consider at a minimum:- The level of nutrient impairment in the
OFS
- The quantity of pollutants,
particularly nitrogen, the project is estimated to remove from an OFS with
a TMDL
- The flow necessary to restore an OFS to
its adopted MFL
- The anticipated impact the project will
have on restoring or increasing water flow or water level
- The amount of matching funds to be
provided by the entities responsible for implementing the project
- Whether the project is in a rural area
of critical economic concern, with preference given to the local
government responsible for implementing the project
- For multiple-year projects, whether
there are funding sources assured through the expected completion date
- The cost of the project and length of
time to complete it relative to its expected benefits
- Whether the entities responsible for
implementing the project have used their own funds for water quality or
conservation within a springshed or SPAMZ of an OFS since July 2009 with
preference given to those that have done so.
Prohibited activities in a SPAMZ
No new municipal or industrial
wastewater disposal systems, including rapid infiltration basins, with
permitted capacities of 100,000 gallons per day or more, unless they meet AWT
standard or higher if required by DEP
No new OSTDS on lots of less than an
acre except for passive nitrogen removing OSTDS approved by DOH. This prohibition does not go into effect
until after DOH approves such systems for use.
No new facilities for disposal of
hazardous waste
No land application of class A or B
domestic wastewater biosolids or septage
New agricultural operations that do
not implement BMPs, measures necessary to achieve pollution levels established
by DEP, or a groundwater monitoring plan approved by a WMD or DEP.
Section
11
RulesDEP is to model the evaluation, selection, and ranking process on the TMDL Water Quality Restoration Grants Rule
DOH, DACS, and WMDs may adopt rules to administer this part
DACS is lead agency on reducing agricultural nonpoint sources and, with DEP, is to study new or revised BMPs – and if necessary to do rulemaking
DACS to research and develop with IFAS additional nutrient management tools to be included by rule into revised BMPs
Section
12.
Reports
Every
July first, starting in 2015, DEP is to submit a progress report to the
Governor, the Speaker of the House, and the President of the Senate on:
- Each TMDL
- Each BMAP
- Each MFL
- Each recovery or prevention strategy
Section
13
Funding
for the coming fiscal year (2014-2015) is provided in specific provisions 1645
and 1390 of the General Appropriations Act and shall be determined each
subsequent year in the GAA
Section
14
Effective
date: 7/1/14Sierra Club Florida lobbyist
140426