Bill Text: FL S1522 | 2021 | Regular Session | Comm Sub


Bill Title: Implementation of the Recommendations of the Blue-Green Algae Task Force

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2021-04-30 - Died in Appropriations [S1522 Detail]

Download: Florida-2021-S1522-Comm_Sub.html
       Florida Senate - 2021                             CS for SB 1522
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources; and
       Senator Stewart
       
       
       
       
       592-03544-21                                          20211522c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to implementation of the
    3         recommendations of the Blue-Green Algae Task Force;
    4         providing a short title; amending s. 381.0065, F.S.;
    5         requiring owners of onsite sewage treatment and
    6         disposal systems to have the system periodically
    7         inspected, beginning on a specified date; requiring
    8         the department to administer the inspection program;
    9         requiring the department to implement program
   10         standards, procedures, and requirements; providing for
   11         rulemaking; amending s. 403.067, F.S.; requiring new
   12         or revised basin management action plans to include an
   13         identification and prioritization of certain spatially
   14         focused projects; requiring the department to assess
   15         certain projects; providing an effective date.
   16  
   17         WHEREAS, Governor Ron DeSantis created the Blue-Green Algae
   18  Task Force in 2019 to “improve water quality for the benefit of
   19  all Floridians,” and the task force’s consensus report was
   20  issued in October 2019, with multiple recommendations for basin
   21  management action plans (BMAP), agriculture, human waste,
   22  stormwater, technology, public health, and science, and
   23         WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes that in June 2020,
   24  Governor DeSantis signed Senate Bill 712, the Clean Waterways
   25  Act, which implemented many of the recommendations of the task
   26  force, and
   27         WHEREAS, full implementation of the task force’s
   28  recommendations will require enactment of additional substantive
   29  legislation, NOW, THEREFORE,
   30  
   31  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   32  
   33         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Implementation of
   34  Governor DeSantis’ Blue-Green Algae Task Force Recommendations
   35  Act.”
   36         Section 2. Present subsections (5), (6), and (7) of section
   37  381.0065, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (6),
   38  (7), and (8), respectively, and a new subsection (5) is added to
   39  that section, to read:
   40         381.0065 Onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems;
   41  regulation.—
   42         (5) PERIODIC INSPECTIONS.—
   43         (a)Effective July 1, 2024, the owner of an onsite sewage
   44  treatment and disposal system, excluding a system required to
   45  have an operating permit, must have the system inspected at
   46  least once every 5 years to assess the fundamental operational
   47  condition of the system, prolong the life of the system, and
   48  identify any failure within the system. The department shall
   49  administer an onsite sewage treatment and disposal system
   50  inspection program for such periodic inspections. The department
   51  shall implement the program standards, procedures, and
   52  requirements, and adopt rules that must include, at a minimum,
   53  all of the following:
   54         1.A schedule for a 5-year inspection cycle.
   55         2.A county-by-county implementation plan phased in over a
   56  10-year period with first priority given to those areas within a
   57  springshed protection area identified by the department.
   58         3.Minimum standards for a functioning system.
   59         4.Requirements for the pumpout or repair of a failing
   60  system.
   61         5.Enforcement procedures for failure of a system owner to
   62  obtain an inspection of the system and failure of a contractor
   63  to timely report inspection results to the department and the
   64  system owner.
   65         Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (7) of section
   66  403.067, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   67         403.067 Establishment and implementation of total maximum
   68  daily loads.—
   69         (7) DEVELOPMENT OF BASIN MANAGEMENT PLANS AND
   70  IMPLEMENTATION OF TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS.—
   71         (a) Basin management action plans.—
   72         1. In developing and implementing the total maximum daily
   73  load for a water body, the department, or the department in
   74  conjunction with a water management district, may develop a
   75  basin management action plan that addresses some or all of the
   76  watersheds and basins tributary to the water body. Such plan
   77  must integrate the appropriate management strategies available
   78  to the state through existing water quality protection programs
   79  to achieve the total maximum daily loads and may provide for
   80  phased implementation of these management strategies to promote
   81  timely, cost-effective actions as provided for in s. 403.151.
   82  The plan must establish a schedule implementing the management
   83  strategies, establish a basis for evaluating the plan’s
   84  effectiveness, and identify feasible funding strategies for
   85  implementing the plan’s management strategies. The management
   86  strategies may include regional treatment systems or other
   87  public works, when appropriate, and voluntary trading of water
   88  quality credits to achieve the needed pollutant load reductions.
   89         2. A basin management action plan must equitably allocate,
   90  pursuant to paragraph (6)(b), pollutant reductions to individual
   91  basins, as a whole to all basins, or to each identified point
   92  source or category of nonpoint sources, as appropriate. For
   93  nonpoint sources for which best management practices have been
   94  adopted, the initial requirement specified by the plan must be
   95  those practices developed pursuant to paragraph (c). When
   96  appropriate, the plan may take into account the benefits of
   97  pollutant load reduction achieved by point or nonpoint sources
   98  that have implemented management strategies to reduce pollutant
   99  loads, including best management practices, before the
  100  development of the basin management action plan. The plan must
  101  also identify the mechanisms that will address potential future
  102  increases in pollutant loading.
  103         3. The basin management action planning process is intended
  104  to involve the broadest possible range of interested parties,
  105  with the objective of encouraging the greatest amount of
  106  cooperation and consensus possible. In developing a basin
  107  management action plan, the department shall assure that key
  108  stakeholders, including, but not limited to, applicable local
  109  governments, water management districts, the Department of
  110  Agriculture and Consumer Services, other appropriate state
  111  agencies, local soil and water conservation districts,
  112  environmental groups, regulated interests, and affected
  113  pollution sources, are invited to participate in the process.
  114  The department shall hold at least one public meeting in the
  115  vicinity of the watershed or basin to discuss and receive
  116  comments during the planning process and shall otherwise
  117  encourage public participation to the greatest practicable
  118  extent. Notice of the public meeting must be published in a
  119  newspaper of general circulation in each county in which the
  120  watershed or basin lies at least 5 days, but not more than 15
  121  days, before the public meeting. A basin management action plan
  122  does not supplant or otherwise alter any assessment made under
  123  subsection (3) or subsection (4) or any calculation or initial
  124  allocation.
  125         4.a. Each new or revised basin management action plan shall
  126  include:
  127         (I)a. The appropriate management strategies available
  128  through existing water quality protection programs to achieve
  129  total maximum daily loads, which may provide for phased
  130  implementation to promote timely, cost-effective actions as
  131  provided for in s. 403.151;
  132         (II)b. A description of best management practices adopted
  133  by rule;
  134         (III)c. A list of projects in priority ranking with a
  135  planning-level cost estimate and estimated date of completion
  136  for each listed project;
  137         (IV)Identification and prioritization of spatially focused
  138  suites of projects in areas likely to yield maximum pollutant
  139  reductions;
  140         (V)d. The source and amount of financial assistance to be
  141  made available by the department, a water management district,
  142  or other entity for each listed project, if applicable; and
  143         (VI)e. A planning-level estimate of each listed project’s
  144  expected load reduction, if applicable.
  145         b.For each project listed pursuant to this subparagraph
  146  which has a total cost that exceeds $1 million, the department
  147  shall assess through integrated and comprehensive monitoring
  148  whether the project is working to reduce nutrient pollution or
  149  water use, or both, as intended. These assessments must be
  150  completed expeditiously and must be included in each basin
  151  management action plan update.
  152         5. The department shall adopt all or any part of a basin
  153  management action plan and any amendment to such plan by
  154  secretarial order pursuant to chapter 120 to implement this
  155  section.
  156         6. The basin management action plan must include milestones
  157  for implementation and water quality improvement, and an
  158  associated water quality monitoring component sufficient to
  159  evaluate whether reasonable progress in pollutant load
  160  reductions is being achieved over time. An assessment of
  161  progress toward these milestones shall be conducted every 5
  162  years, and revisions to the plan shall be made as appropriate.
  163  Revisions to the basin management action plan shall be made by
  164  the department in cooperation with basin stakeholders. Revisions
  165  to the management strategies required for nonpoint sources must
  166  follow the procedures in subparagraph (c)4. Revised basin
  167  management action plans must be adopted pursuant to subparagraph
  168  5.
  169         7. In accordance with procedures adopted by rule under
  170  paragraph (9)(c), basin management action plans, and other
  171  pollution control programs under local, state, or federal
  172  authority as provided in subsection (4), may allow point or
  173  nonpoint sources that will achieve greater pollutant reductions
  174  than required by an adopted total maximum daily load or
  175  wasteload allocation to generate, register, and trade water
  176  quality credits for the excess reductions to enable other
  177  sources to achieve their allocation; however, the generation of
  178  water quality credits does not remove the obligation of a source
  179  or activity to meet applicable technology requirements or
  180  adopted best management practices. Such plans must allow trading
  181  between NPDES permittees, and trading that may or may not
  182  involve NPDES permittees, where the generation or use of the
  183  credits involve an entity or activity not subject to department
  184  water discharge permits whose owner voluntarily elects to obtain
  185  department authorization for the generation and sale of credits.
  186         8. The department’s rule relating to the equitable
  187  abatement of pollutants into surface waters do not apply to
  188  water bodies or water body segments for which a basin management
  189  plan that takes into account future new or expanded activities
  190  or discharges has been adopted under this section.
  191         9. In order to promote resilient wastewater utilities, if
  192  the department identifies domestic wastewater treatment
  193  facilities or onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems as
  194  contributors of at least 20 percent of point source or nonpoint
  195  source nutrient pollution or if the department determines
  196  remediation is necessary to achieve the total maximum daily
  197  load, a basin management action plan for a nutrient total
  198  maximum daily load must include the following:
  199         a. A wastewater treatment plan developed by each local
  200  government, in cooperation with the department, the water
  201  management district, and the public and private domestic
  202  wastewater treatment facilities within the jurisdiction of the
  203  local government, that addresses domestic wastewater. The
  204  wastewater treatment plan must:
  205         (I) Provide for construction, expansion, or upgrades
  206  necessary to achieve the total maximum daily load requirements
  207  applicable to the domestic wastewater treatment facility.
  208         (II) Include the permitted capacity in average annual
  209  gallons per day for the domestic wastewater treatment facility;
  210  the average nutrient concentration and the estimated average
  211  nutrient load of the domestic wastewater; a projected timeline
  212  of the dates by which the construction of any facility
  213  improvements will begin and be completed and the date by which
  214  operations of the improved facility will begin; the estimated
  215  cost of the improvements; and the identity of responsible
  216  parties.
  217  
  218  The wastewater treatment plan must be adopted as part of the
  219  basin management action plan no later than July 1, 2025. A local
  220  government that does not have a domestic wastewater treatment
  221  facility in its jurisdiction is not required to develop a
  222  wastewater treatment plan unless there is a demonstrated need to
  223  establish a domestic wastewater treatment facility within its
  224  jurisdiction to improve water quality necessary to achieve a
  225  total maximum daily load. A local government is not responsible
  226  for a private domestic wastewater facility’s compliance with a
  227  basin management action plan unless such facility is operated
  228  through a public-private partnership to which the local
  229  government is a party.
  230         b. An onsite sewage treatment and disposal system
  231  remediation plan developed by each local government in
  232  cooperation with the department, the Department of Health, water
  233  management districts, and public and private domestic wastewater
  234  treatment facilities.
  235         (I) The onsite sewage treatment and disposal system
  236  remediation plan must identify cost-effective and financially
  237  feasible projects necessary to achieve the nutrient load
  238  reductions required for onsite sewage treatment and disposal
  239  systems. To identify cost-effective and financially feasible
  240  projects for remediation of onsite sewage treatment and disposal
  241  systems, the local government shall:
  242         (A) Include an inventory of onsite sewage treatment and
  243  disposal systems based on the best information available;
  244         (B) Identify onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems
  245  that would be eliminated through connection to existing or
  246  future central domestic wastewater infrastructure in the
  247  jurisdiction or domestic wastewater service area of the local
  248  government, that would be replaced with or upgraded to enhanced
  249  nutrient-reducing onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems,
  250  or that would remain on conventional onsite sewage treatment and
  251  disposal systems;
  252         (C) Estimate the costs of potential onsite sewage treatment
  253  and disposal system connections, upgrades, or replacements; and
  254         (D) Identify deadlines and interim milestones for the
  255  planning, design, and construction of projects.
  256         (II) The department shall adopt the onsite sewage treatment
  257  and disposal system remediation plan as part of the basin
  258  management action plan no later than July 1, 2025, or as
  259  required for Outstanding Florida Springs under s. 373.807.
  260         10. When identifying wastewater projects in a basin
  261  management action plan, the department may not require the
  262  higher cost option if it achieves the same nutrient load
  263  reduction as a lower cost option. A regulated entity may choose
  264  a different cost option if it complies with the pollutant
  265  reduction requirements of an adopted total maximum daily load
  266  and meets or exceeds the pollution reduction requirement of the
  267  original project.
  268         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.

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