The Florida Senate

373.250  Reuse of reclaimed water.--

(1)  The encouragement and promotion of water conservation and reuse of reclaimed water, as defined by the department, are state objectives and considered to be in the public interest. The Legislature finds that the use of reclaimed water provided by domestic wastewater treatment plants permitted and operated under a reuse program approved by the department is environmentally acceptable and not a threat to public health and safety.

(2)(a)  For purposes of this section, "uncommitted" means the average amount of reclaimed water produced during the three lowest-flow months minus the amount of reclaimed water that a reclaimed water provider is contractually obligated to provide to a customer or user.

(b)  Reclaimed water may be presumed available to a consumptive use permit applicant when a utility exists which provides reclaimed water, which has uncommitted reclaimed water capacity, and which has distribution facilities, which are initially provided by the utility at its cost, to the site of the affected applicant's proposed use.

(3)  The water management district shall, in consultation with the department, adopt rules to implement this section. Such rules shall include, but not be limited to:

(a)  Provisions to permit use of water from other sources in emergency situations or if reclaimed water becomes unavailable, for the duration of the emergency or the unavailability of reclaimed water. These provisions shall also specify the method for establishing the quantity of water to be set aside for use in emergencies or when reclaimed water becomes unavailable. The amount set aside is subject to periodic review and revision. The methodology shall take into account the risk that reclaimed water may not be available in the future, the risk that other sources may be fully allocated to other uses in the future, the nature of the uses served with reclaimed water, the extent to which the applicant intends to rely upon reclaimed water and the extent of economic harm which may result if other sources are not available to replace the reclaimed water. It is the intent of this paragraph to ensure that users of reclaimed water have the same access to ground or surface water and will otherwise be treated in the same manner as other users of the same class not relying on reclaimed water.

(b)  A water management district shall not adopt any rule which gives preference to users within any class of use established under s. 373.246 who do not use reclaimed water over users within the same class who use reclaimed water.

(4)  Nothing in this section shall impair a water management district's authority to plan for and regulate consumptive uses of water under this chapter.

(5)  This section applies to new consumptive use permits and renewals of existing consumptive use permits.

(6)  Each water management district shall submit to the Legislature, by June 1 of each year, an annual report which describes the district's progress in promoting the reuse of reclaimed water. The report shall include, but not be limited to:

(a)  The number of permits issued during the year which required reuse of reclaimed water and, by categories, the percentages of reuse required.

(b)  The number of permits issued during the year which did not require the reuse of reclaimed water and, of those permits, the number which reasonably could have required reuse.

(c)  In the second and subsequent annual reports, a statistical comparison of reuse required through consumptive use permitting between the current and preceding years.

(d)  A comparison of the volume of reclaimed water available in the district to the volume of reclaimed water required to be reused through consumptive use permits.

(e)  A comparison of the volume of reuse of reclaimed water required in water resource caution areas through consumptive use permitting to the volume required in other areas in the district through consumptive use permitting.

(f)  An explanation of the factors the district considered when determining how much, if any, reuse of reclaimed water to require through consumptive use permitting.

(g)  A description of the district's efforts to work in cooperation with local government and private domestic wastewater treatment facilities to increase the reuse of reclaimed water. The districts, in consultation with the department, shall devise a uniform format for the report required by this subsection and for presenting the information provided in the report.

History.--s. 2, ch. 94-243; s. 35, ch. 97-160; s. 18, ch. 97-164.