Florida Senate - 2021 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1522
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LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
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The Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (Stewart)
recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Implementation of
6 Governor DeSantis’ Blue-Green Algae Task Force Recommendations
7 Act.”
8 Section 2. Present subsections (5), (6), and (7) of section
9 381.0065, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (6),
10 (7), and (8), respectively, and a new subsection (5) is added to
11 that section, to read:
12 381.0065 Onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems;
13 regulation.—
14 (5) PERIODIC INSPECTIONS.—
15 (a) Effective July 1, 2024, the owner of an onsite sewage
16 treatment and disposal system, excluding a system required to
17 have an operating permit, must have the system inspected at
18 least once every 5 years to assess the fundamental operational
19 condition of the system, prolong the life of the system, and
20 identify any failure within the system. The department shall
21 administer an onsite sewage treatment and disposal system
22 inspection program for such periodic inspections. The department
23 shall implement the program standards, procedures, and
24 requirements, and adopt rules that must include, at a minimum,
25 all of the following:
26 1. A schedule for a 5-year inspection cycle.
27 2. A county-by-county implementation plan phased in over a
28 10-year period with first priority given to those areas within a
29 springshed protection area identified by the department.
30 3. Minimum standards for a functioning system.
31 4. Requirements for the pumpout or repair of a failing
32 system.
33 5. Enforcement procedures for failure of a system owner to
34 obtain an inspection of the system and failure of a contractor
35 to timely report inspection results to the department and the
36 system owner.
37 Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (7) of section
38 403.067, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
39 403.067 Establishment and implementation of total maximum
40 daily loads.—
41 (7) DEVELOPMENT OF BASIN MANAGEMENT PLANS AND
42 IMPLEMENTATION OF TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS.—
43 (a) Basin management action plans.—
44 1. In developing and implementing the total maximum daily
45 load for a water body, the department, or the department in
46 conjunction with a water management district, may develop a
47 basin management action plan that addresses some or all of the
48 watersheds and basins tributary to the water body. Such plan
49 must integrate the appropriate management strategies available
50 to the state through existing water quality protection programs
51 to achieve the total maximum daily loads and may provide for
52 phased implementation of these management strategies to promote
53 timely, cost-effective actions as provided for in s. 403.151.
54 The plan must establish a schedule implementing the management
55 strategies, establish a basis for evaluating the plan’s
56 effectiveness, and identify feasible funding strategies for
57 implementing the plan’s management strategies. The management
58 strategies may include regional treatment systems or other
59 public works, when appropriate, and voluntary trading of water
60 quality credits to achieve the needed pollutant load reductions.
61 2. A basin management action plan must equitably allocate,
62 pursuant to paragraph (6)(b), pollutant reductions to individual
63 basins, as a whole to all basins, or to each identified point
64 source or category of nonpoint sources, as appropriate. For
65 nonpoint sources for which best management practices have been
66 adopted, the initial requirement specified by the plan must be
67 those practices developed pursuant to paragraph (c). When
68 appropriate, the plan may take into account the benefits of
69 pollutant load reduction achieved by point or nonpoint sources
70 that have implemented management strategies to reduce pollutant
71 loads, including best management practices, before the
72 development of the basin management action plan. The plan must
73 also identify the mechanisms that will address potential future
74 increases in pollutant loading.
75 3. The basin management action planning process is intended
76 to involve the broadest possible range of interested parties,
77 with the objective of encouraging the greatest amount of
78 cooperation and consensus possible. In developing a basin
79 management action plan, the department shall assure that key
80 stakeholders, including, but not limited to, applicable local
81 governments, water management districts, the Department of
82 Agriculture and Consumer Services, other appropriate state
83 agencies, local soil and water conservation districts,
84 environmental groups, regulated interests, and affected
85 pollution sources, are invited to participate in the process.
86 The department shall hold at least one public meeting in the
87 vicinity of the watershed or basin to discuss and receive
88 comments during the planning process and shall otherwise
89 encourage public participation to the greatest practicable
90 extent. Notice of the public meeting must be published in a
91 newspaper of general circulation in each county in which the
92 watershed or basin lies at least 5 days, but not more than 15
93 days, before the public meeting. A basin management action plan
94 does not supplant or otherwise alter any assessment made under
95 subsection (3) or subsection (4) or any calculation or initial
96 allocation.
97 4.a. Each new or revised basin management action plan shall
98 include:
99 (I)a. The appropriate management strategies available
100 through existing water quality protection programs to achieve
101 total maximum daily loads, which may provide for phased
102 implementation to promote timely, cost-effective actions as
103 provided for in s. 403.151;
104 (II)b. A description of best management practices adopted
105 by rule;
106 (III)c. A list of projects in priority ranking with a
107 planning-level cost estimate and estimated date of completion
108 for each listed project;
109 (IV) Identification and prioritization of spatially focused
110 suites of projects in areas likely to yield maximum pollutant
111 reductions;
112 (V)d. The source and amount of financial assistance to be
113 made available by the department, a water management district,
114 or other entity for each listed project, if applicable; and
115 (VI)e. A planning-level estimate of each listed project’s
116 expected load reduction, if applicable.
117 b. For each project listed pursuant to this subparagraph
118 which has a total cost that exceeds $1 million, the department
119 shall assess through integrated and comprehensive monitoring
120 whether the project is working to reduce nutrient pollution or
121 water use, or both, as intended. These assessments must be
122 completed expeditiously and must be included in each basin
123 management action plan update.
124 5. The department shall adopt all or any part of a basin
125 management action plan and any amendment to such plan by
126 secretarial order pursuant to chapter 120 to implement this
127 section.
128 6. The basin management action plan must include milestones
129 for implementation and water quality improvement, and an
130 associated water quality monitoring component sufficient to
131 evaluate whether reasonable progress in pollutant load
132 reductions is being achieved over time. An assessment of
133 progress toward these milestones shall be conducted every 5
134 years, and revisions to the plan shall be made as appropriate.
135 Revisions to the basin management action plan shall be made by
136 the department in cooperation with basin stakeholders. Revisions
137 to the management strategies required for nonpoint sources must
138 follow the procedures in subparagraph (c)4. Revised basin
139 management action plans must be adopted pursuant to subparagraph
140 5.
141 7. In accordance with procedures adopted by rule under
142 paragraph (9)(c), basin management action plans, and other
143 pollution control programs under local, state, or federal
144 authority as provided in subsection (4), may allow point or
145 nonpoint sources that will achieve greater pollutant reductions
146 than required by an adopted total maximum daily load or
147 wasteload allocation to generate, register, and trade water
148 quality credits for the excess reductions to enable other
149 sources to achieve their allocation; however, the generation of
150 water quality credits does not remove the obligation of a source
151 or activity to meet applicable technology requirements or
152 adopted best management practices. Such plans must allow trading
153 between NPDES permittees, and trading that may or may not
154 involve NPDES permittees, where the generation or use of the
155 credits involve an entity or activity not subject to department
156 water discharge permits whose owner voluntarily elects to obtain
157 department authorization for the generation and sale of credits.
158 8. The department’s rule relating to the equitable
159 abatement of pollutants into surface waters do not apply to
160 water bodies or water body segments for which a basin management
161 plan that takes into account future new or expanded activities
162 or discharges has been adopted under this section.
163 9. In order to promote resilient wastewater utilities, if
164 the department identifies domestic wastewater treatment
165 facilities or onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems as
166 contributors of at least 20 percent of point source or nonpoint
167 source nutrient pollution or if the department determines
168 remediation is necessary to achieve the total maximum daily
169 load, a basin management action plan for a nutrient total
170 maximum daily load must include the following:
171 a. A wastewater treatment plan developed by each local
172 government, in cooperation with the department, the water
173 management district, and the public and private domestic
174 wastewater treatment facilities within the jurisdiction of the
175 local government, that addresses domestic wastewater. The
176 wastewater treatment plan must:
177 (I) Provide for construction, expansion, or upgrades
178 necessary to achieve the total maximum daily load requirements
179 applicable to the domestic wastewater treatment facility.
180 (II) Include the permitted capacity in average annual
181 gallons per day for the domestic wastewater treatment facility;
182 the average nutrient concentration and the estimated average
183 nutrient load of the domestic wastewater; a projected timeline
184 of the dates by which the construction of any facility
185 improvements will begin and be completed and the date by which
186 operations of the improved facility will begin; the estimated
187 cost of the improvements; and the identity of responsible
188 parties.
189
190 The wastewater treatment plan must be adopted as part of
191 the basin management action plan no later than July 1, 2025. A
192 local government that does not have a domestic wastewater
193 treatment facility in its jurisdiction is not required to
194 develop a wastewater treatment plan unless there is a
195 demonstrated need to establish a domestic wastewater treatment
196 facility within its jurisdiction to improve water quality
197 necessary to achieve a total maximum daily load. A local
198 government is not responsible for a private domestic wastewater
199 facility’s compliance with a basin management action plan unless
200 such facility is operated through a public-private partnership
201 to which the local government is a party.
202 b. An onsite sewage treatment and disposal system
203 remediation plan developed by each local government in
204 cooperation with the department, the Department of Health, water
205 management districts, and public and private domestic wastewater
206 treatment facilities.
207 (I) The onsite sewage treatment and disposal system
208 remediation plan must identify cost-effective and financially
209 feasible projects necessary to achieve the nutrient load
210 reductions required for onsite sewage treatment and disposal
211 systems. To identify cost-effective and financially feasible
212 projects for remediation of onsite sewage treatment and disposal
213 systems, the local government shall:
214 (A) Include an inventory of onsite sewage treatment and
215 disposal systems based on the best information available;
216 (B) Identify onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems
217 that would be eliminated through connection to existing or
218 future central domestic wastewater infrastructure in the
219 jurisdiction or domestic wastewater service area of the local
220 government, that would be replaced with or upgraded to enhanced
221 nutrient-reducing onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems,
222 or that would remain on conventional onsite sewage treatment and
223 disposal systems;
224 (C) Estimate the costs of potential onsite sewage treatment
225 and disposal system connections, upgrades, or replacements; and
226 (D) Identify deadlines and interim milestones for the
227 planning, design, and construction of projects.
228 (II) The department shall adopt the onsite sewage treatment
229 and disposal system remediation plan as part of the basin
230 management action plan no later than July 1, 2025, or as
231 required for Outstanding Florida Springs under s. 373.807.
232 10. When identifying wastewater projects in a basin
233 management action plan, the department may not require the
234 higher cost option if it achieves the same nutrient load
235 reduction as a lower cost option. A regulated entity may choose
236 a different cost option if it complies with the pollutant
237 reduction requirements of an adopted total maximum daily load
238 and meets or exceeds the pollution reduction requirement of the
239 original project.
240 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.
241
242 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
243 And the title is amended as follows:
244 Delete everything before the enacting clause
245 and insert:
246 A bill to be entitled
247 An act relating to implementation of the
248 recommendations of the Blue-Green Algae Task Force;
249 providing a short title; amending s. 381.0065, F.S.;
250 requiring owners of onsite sewage treatment and
251 disposal systems to have the system periodically
252 inspected, beginning on a specified date; requiring
253 the department to administer the inspection program;
254 requiring the department to implement program
255 standards, procedures, and requirements; providing for
256 rulemaking; amending s. 403.067, F.S.; requiring new
257 or revised basin management action plans to include an
258 identification and prioritization of certain spatially
259 focused projects; requiring the department to assess
260 certain projects; providing an effective date.
261
262 WHEREAS, Governor Ron DeSantis created the Blue-Green Algae
263 Task Force in 2019, to “improve water quality for the benefit of
264 all Floridians,” and the task force’s consensus report was
265 issued in October 2019, with multiple recommendations for basin
266 management action plans (BMAP), agriculture, human waste,
267 stormwater, technology, public health, and science, and
268 WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes that in June 2020,
269 Governor DeSantis signed SB 712, the Clean Waterways Act, which
270 implemented many of the recommendations of the task force, and
271 WHEREAS, full implementation of the task force’s
272 recommendations will require enactment of additional
273 substantive legislation, NOW, THEREFORE,