HB 1005 2003
1	CHAMBER ACTION
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6	The Committee on Natural Resources recommends the following:
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8	Committee Substitute
9	Remove the entire bill and insert:
10	A bill to be entitled
11	An act relating to water resources; amending s. 373.223,
12	F.S.; revising provisions relating to water reservations;
13	defining "independent scientific peer review"; providing
14	for selection and duties of an independent scientific peer
15	review panel; providing for a report; providing for
16	applicability; providing exceptions; providing for rules;
17	providing for administrative hearings; providing for a
18	water recovery or prevention plan and for implementation
19	thereof; amending s. 373.250, F.S.; authorizing water
20	management districts to require use of uncommitted
21	reclaimed water under certain circumstances and with
22	certain limitations; amending s. 403.064, F.S.; requiring
23	that the conclusions of a reuse feasibility study be
24	considered in analyzing the feasibility of providing
25	reclaimed water for reuse; providing an effective date.
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27	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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29	Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 373.223, Florida
30	Statutes, is amended to read:
31	373.223 Conditions for a permit.--
32	(4)(a) The governing board or the department, by rule
33	regulation, may reserve from use by permit applicants,water in
34	such locations and quantities, and for such seasons of the year,
35	as in its judgment may be required for the protection of fish
36	and wildlife or the public health and safety. Such reservations
37	shall be subject to periodic review and revision at least every
38	5 years, in conjunction with the district's review of regional
39	water supply plans in the light of changed conditions, and
40	revised if necessary. However, all presently existing legal uses
41	of water shall be protected so long as such use is not contrary
42	to the public interest.
43	(b) By July 1, 2004, or the next required update to the
44	applicable water management district’s regional water supply
45	plan, whichever occurs first, and at least every 5 years
46	thereafter, each water management district that intends to
47	establish water reservations shall set forth in its regional
48	water supply plan approved pursuant to s. 373.0361 a priority
49	list and schedule for the establishment of its proposed
50	reservations, as well as an explanation of the reasons and
51	conditions supporting the need for those reservations. The
52	priority list and schedule shall also identify those
53	reservations for which the district will voluntarily undertake
54	independent scientific peer review. However, nothing in this
55	subsection shall preclude a water management district from
56	adopting a rule establishing a water reservation for a water
57	body or an area not shown on the priority list or schedule.
58	(c) Upon written request to the department or the
59	governing board by a substantially affected person, or by
60	decision of the department or the governing board, prior to the
61	establishment of a reservation of water and prior to the filing
62	of any petition for an administrative hearing related to a
63	reservation of water, all scientific or technical data,
64	methodologies, and models, including all scientific and
65	technical assumptions employed in each model, used to establish
66	the water reservation shall be subject to independent scientific
67	peer review. "Independent scientific peer review" means a review
68	by a panel of independent, recognized experts in the fields of
69	hydrology, hydrogeology, limnology, biology, and other
70	scientific disciplines, to the extent relevant to the
71	establishment of the reservation.
72	(d) If independent scientific peer review is requested, it
73	shall be initiated at an appropriate point agreed upon by the
74	department or the governing board and the person or persons
75	requesting the peer review. If no agreement is reached, the
76	department or the governing board shall determine the
77	appropriate point at which to initiate the peer review. The
78	members of the peer review panel shall be selected within 60
79	days after the point of initiation by agreement of the
80	department or the governing board and the person or persons
81	requesting the peer review. If the peer review panel is not
82	selected within the 60-day period, the time limitation may be
83	waived upon the agreement of all parties. If no waiver occurs,
84	the department or the governing board may proceed to select the
85	peer review panel. The cost of the peer review shall be borne
86	equally by the district and each party requesting the peer
87	review to the extent economically feasible. The peer review
88	panel shall submit a final report to the governing board within
89	120 days after its selection unless the deadline is waived by
90	agreement of all parties. Initiation of the peer review pursuant
91	to this paragraph shall toll any applicable deadline under
92	chapter 120 or any other law or district rule regarding
93	permitting, rulemaking, or administrative hearings, until 60
94	days following submittal of the peer review panel’s final
95	report. Any such deadlines shall also be tolled for 60 days
96	following withdrawal of the request or following agreement of
97	the parties that the peer review will no longer be pursued. The
98	department or the governing board shall give significant weight
99	to the final report of the peer review panel when establishing
100	the water reservation.
101	(e) If the final data, methodologies, and models,
102	including all scientific and technical assumptions employed in
103	each model upon which a water reservation is based, have
104	undergone the peer review pursuant to this subsection, by
105	request or by decision of the department or the governing board,
106	no further peer review shall be required with respect to that
107	water reservation.
108	(f) No reservation of water adopted by rule or formally
109	noticed for adoption on or before July 1, 2003, shall be subject
110	to this subsection.
111	(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to
112	the contrary, to assist in implementing the comprehensive plan
113	as defined in s. 373.470(2)(a) and achieving the purposes
114	identified in s. 373.470(3)(b), the governing board of the South
115	Florida Water Management District, upon completion of a project
116	implementation report as required by s. 373.470(3)(c) and the
117	approval of said report pursuant to s. 373.026(8)(b), may by
118	rule reserve water for the natural system and determine regional
119	water availability for other uses to be made available by the
120	project component. The rule shall state when the quantities are
121	anticipated to become available and how the reserved water and
122	quantities of water for other uses will be adjusted if the
123	actual water made available is different than the quantity
124	anticipated. Once a project component is constructed and in
125	operation, the reservation and quantities of water made
126	available for other uses shall be reviewed and modified, as
127	necessary, based upon the performance of the project component.
128	(h) If a petition for administrative hearing is filed
129	under chapter 120 challenging the establishment of the
130	reservation of water, the report of an independent scientific
131	peer review conducted under this subsection is admissible as
132	evidence in the final hearing. To the extent that the parties
133	agree to the findings of the peer review, they may stipulate
134	that those findings shall be incorporated as findings of fact in
135	the final order.
136	(i) If the department or the governing board determines
137	after adoption of the reservation of water by rule that the
138	water needed for the reservation is already allocated to
139	existing legal users, or that there is otherwise inadequate
140	water to meet the reservation and the demands of existing legal
141	uses and projected uses determined pursuant to the analysis
142	required by s. 373.0361, then the department or the governing
143	board, as part of a regional water supply plan described in s.
144	373.0361, shall expeditiously implement a water recovery or
145	prevention plan that shall include the development of additional
146	water supplies and other actions, consistent with the authority
147	granted by this chapter, to:
148	1. Provide water needed for the reservation; or
149	2. Develop new or additional water sources to meet the
150	needs of existing legal uses and projected uses that may be
151	affected by the reservation.
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153	This recovery plan shall include phasing or a timetable for
154	implementing the reservation that will allow for the provision
155	of sufficient water supplies for all existing and projected
156	reasonable-beneficial uses, including development of additional
157	water supplies and implementation of conservation and other
158	efficiency measures.
159	Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 373.250, Florida
160	Statutes, is amended to read:
161	373.250 Reuse of reclaimed water.--
162	(2)(a) For purposes of this section, "uncommitted" means
163	the average amount of reclaimed water produced during the three
164	lowest-flow months minus the amount of reclaimed water that a
165	reclaimed water provider is contractually obligated to provide
166	to a customer or user.
167	(b) Reclaimed water may be presumed available to a
168	consumptive use permit applicant when a utility exists which
169	provides reclaimed water, which has uncommitted reclaimed water
170	capacity, and which has distribution facilities, which are
171	initially provided by the utility at its cost, to the site of
172	the affected applicant's proposed use.
173	(c) A water management district may require the use of
174	uncommitted reclaimed water in lieu of surface water or
175	groundwater when the use of reclaimed water is environmentally,
176	economically, and technically feasible. However, nothing in this
177	paragraph shall be construed to give a water management district
178	the authority to require a provider of reclaimed water to
179	redirect reclaimed water from one user to another or to provide
180	uncommitted water to a specific user if such water is
181	anticipated to be used by the provider, or a different user
182	selected by the provider, within a reasonable amount of time.
183	Section 3. Subsection (6) of section 403.064, Florida
184	Statutes, is amended to read:
185	403.064 Reuse of reclaimed water.--
186	(6) A reuse feasibility study prepared under subsection
187	(2) satisfies a water management district requirement to conduct
188	a reuse feasibility study imposed on a local government or
189	utility that has responsibility for wastewater management, and
190	the conclusions of the reuse feasibility study shall be given
191	significant consideration in an analysis of the feasibility of
192	providing reclaimed water for reuse under part II of chapter
193	373.
194	Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.