CS/HB 933

1
A bill to be entitled
2An act relating to the West-Central Florida Water
3Restoration Action Plan; creating s. 373.0363, F.S.;
4providing definitions; providing legislative findings;
5requiring the Southwest Florida Water Management
6District to implement the West-Central Florida Water
7Restoration Action Plan; providing criteria governing
8the implementation of the plan; requiring that the
9district coordinate with regional water supply
10authorities and governmental partners to maximize
11opportunities concerning the efficient expenditure of
12public funds; specifying the plan's purpose; specifying
13the initiatives that are included in the plan; providing
14criteria governing implementation of the Central West
15Coast Surface Water Enhancement Initiative, the
16Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems
17Initiative, the Ridge Lakes Restoration Initiative, the
18Upper Peace River Watershed Restoration Initiative, and
19the Central Florida Water Resource Development
20Initiative and certain components or projects included
21in such initiatives; providing for the Southwest Florida
22Water Management District to include specified criteria
23concerning implementation of the plan, regional
24conditions, and the use of funds in specified annual
25reports; requiring that the Southwest Florida Water
26Management District develop and submit a plan to the
27Legislature; providing for approval of the plan;
28providing an effective date.
29
30Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
31
32     Section 1.  Section 373.0363, Florida Statutes, is created
33to read:
34     373.0363  West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action
35Plan.--
36     (1)  As used in this section, the term:
37     (a)  "Central Florida Coordination Area" means all of Polk,
38Osceola, Orange, and Seminole Counties, and southern Lake
39County, as designated by the Southwest Florida Water Management
40District, the South Florida Water Management District, and the
41St. Johns River Water Management District.
42     (b)  "District" means the Southwest Florida Water
43Management District.
44     (c)  "Southern Water Use Caution Area" means an area that
45the district designated, after extensive collection of data and
46numerous studies, in order to comprehensively manage water
47resources in the Southern West-Central Groundwater Basin, which
48includes all of Desoto, Hardee, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties,
49and parts of Charlotte, Highlands, Hillsborough, and Polk
50Counties.
51     (d)  "Southern Water Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy"
52means the district's regulatory, planning, and financial
53strategy for ensuring that adequate water supplies are available
54to meet growing demands while protecting and restoring the water
55and related natural resources of the area.
56     (e)  "West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan"
57means the district's regional environmental restoration and
58water resource sustainability program for the Southern Water Use
59Caution Area.
60     (2)  The Legislature finds that:
61     (a)  In response to growing demands from public supply,
62agriculture, mining, power generation, and recreational users,
63groundwater withdrawals in the Southern Water Use Caution Area
64have steadily increased for nearly a century before peaking in
65the mid-1970s. These withdrawals resulted in declines in aquifer
66levels throughout the groundwater basin, which declines in some
67areas exceeded 50 feet.
68     (b)  While groundwater withdrawals have since stabilized as
69a result of the district's management efforts, depressed aquifer
70levels continue to result in saltwater intrusion, reduced flows
71in the Upper Peace River, lowered water levels, and adverse
72water quality impacts for some lakes in the Lake Wales Ridge
73areas of Polk and Highlands Counties.
74     (c)  In response to these resource concerns, and as
75directed by s. 373.036, the district determined that traditional
76sources of water in the region are not adequate to supply water
77for all existing and projected reasonable and beneficial uses
78and to sustain the water resources and related natural systems.
79     (d)  The expeditious implementation of the Southern Water
80Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy is needed to meet the minimum
81flow requirement for the Upper Peace River, slow saltwater
82intrusion, provide for improved lake levels and water quality
83along the Lake Wales Ridge, and ensure sufficient water supplies
84for all existing and projected reasonable and beneficial uses.
85     (e)  Sufficient research has been conducted and sufficient
86plans developed to immediately expand and accelerate programs to
87sustain the water resources and related natural systems in the
88Southern Water Use Caution Area.
89     (f)  Implementation of components of the Southern Water Use
90Caution Area Recovery Strategy which are contained in the West-
91Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan is for the benefit
92of the public health, safety, and welfare and is in the public
93interest.
94     (g)  Implementation of the West-Central Florida Water
95Restoration Action Plan is necessary to meet the minimum flow
96requirement for the Upper Peace River, slow saltwater intrusion,
97provide for improved lake levels and water quality along the
98Lake Wales Ridge, and ensure sufficient water supplies for all
99existing and projected reasonable and beneficial uses.
100     (h)  A continuing source of funding is needed to
101effectively implement the West-Central Florida Water Restoration
102Action Plan.
103     (3)  The district shall implement the West-Central Florida
104Water Restoration Action Plan in a manner that furthers
105progressive strategies for the management of water resources, is
106watershed-based, provides for consideration of water quality
107issues, and includes monitoring, the development and
108implementation of best management practices, and structural and
109nonstructural projects, including public works projects. The
110district shall coordinate its implementation of the plan with
111regional water supply authorities, public and private
112partnerships, and local, state, and federal partners in order to
113maximize opportunities for the most efficient and timely
114expenditures of public funds.
115     (4)  The West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan
116includes:
117     (a)  The Central West Coast Surface Water Enhancement
118Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to make additional
119surface waters available for public supply through restoration
120of surface waters, natural water flows, and freshwater wetland
121communities. This initiative is designed to allow limits on
122groundwater withdrawals in order to slow the rate of saltwater
123intrusion. The initiative shall be an ongoing program in
124cooperation with the Peace River-Manasota Regional Water Supply
125Authority created under s. 373.1962.
126     (b)  The Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management
127Systems Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to
128expedite the implementation of production-scale, best management
129practices in the agricultural sector, which will result in
130reductions in groundwater withdrawals and improvements in water
131quality, water resources, and ecology. The initiative is a cost-
132share reimbursement program to provide funding incentives to
133agricultural landowners for the implementation of best
134management practices. The initiative shall be implemented by the
135district in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture and
136Consumer Services. Cooperative funding programs approved by the
137governing board shall not be subject to the rulemaking
138requirements of chapter 120. However, any portion of an approved
139program which affects the substantial interests of a party shall
140be subject to s. 120.569.
141     (c)  The Ridge Lakes Restoration Initiative. The purpose of
142this initiative is to protect, restore, and enhance natural
143systems and flood protection by improving and protecting the
144water quality of approximately 130 lakes located along the Lake
145Wales Ridge in Polk and Highlands Counties, which quality is
146threatened by stormwater runoff, wastewater effluent, fertilizer
147applications, groundwater pollution, degradation of shoreline
148habitats, and hydrologic alterations. This initiative shall be
149accomplished through the construction of systems designed to
150treat the stormwater runoff that threatens the water quality of
151such lakes. Such systems include swales, retention basins, and
152long infiltration basins, if feasible.
153     (d)  The Upper Peace River Watershed Restoration
154Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to improve the
155quality of waters and ecosystems in the watershed of the Upper
156Peace River by recharging aquifers, restoring the flow of
157surface waters, and restoring the capacity of natural systems to
158store surface waters. The Legislature finds that such
159improvements are necessary because the quantity and quality of
160the fresh water that flows to the basin of the Peace River and
161Charlotte Harbor are adversely affected by the significant
162alteration and degradation of the watershed of the Upper Peace
163River and because restoration of the watershed of the Upper
164Peace River is a critical component of the Charlotte Harbor
165National Estuary Program's Comprehensive Conservation and
166Management Plan, the Southwest Florida Water Management
167District's Surface Water Improvement and Management Plan, and
168the Southern Water Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy. This
169initiative shall include an Upper Peace River Component. In
170addition to the initiative's other purposes, this component will
171provide a critical link to a major greenway that extends from
172the lower southwest coast of this state through the watershed of
173the Peace River and the Green Swamp and further north to the
174Ocala National Forest.
175     (e)  The Central Florida Water Resource Development
176Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to create and
177implement a long-term plan that takes a comprehensive approach
178to limit ground water withdrawals in the Southern Water Use
179Caution Area and to identify and develop alternative water
180supplies for Polk County. The project components developed
181pursuant to this initiative are eligible for state and regional
182funding under s. 373.196 as an alternative water supply, as
183defined in s. 373.019, or as a supplemental water supply under
184the rules of the Southwest Florida Water Management District or
185the South Florida Water Management District. The initiative
186shall be implemented by the district as an ongoing program in
187cooperation with Polk County and the South Florida Water
188Management District.
189     (5)  As part of the consolidated annual report required
190pursuant s. 373.036(7), the district may include:
191     (a)  A summary of the conditions of the Southern Water Use
192Caution Area, including the status of the components of the
193West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan.
194     (b)  An annual accounting of the expenditure of funds. The
195accounting must, at a minimum, provide details of expenditures
196separately by plan component and any subparts of a plan
197component, and include specific information about amount and use
198of funds from federal, state, and local government sources. In
199detailing the use of these funds, the district shall indicate
200those funds that are designated to meet requirements for
201matching funds.
202     (6)  The district shall submit the West-Central Florida
203Water Restoration Action Plan developed pursuant to subsection
204(4) to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House
205of Representatives prior to the 2010 regular legislative session
206for review. If the Legislature takes no action on the plan
207during the 2010 regular legislative session, the plan shall be
208deemed approved.
209     Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.