Florida reforms empower local communities on water cleanup

Last month in Fort Myers, state water managers joined scientists, environmentalists and representatives from agriculture in developing a plan to reduce excess nutrients flowing into the Caloosahatchee watershed.

Years ago, such a meeting would have been happenstance. But thanks to the comprehensive water bill passed by the Florida Legislature in 2015, meetings such as this one are about to become much more common around the state in the near future.

One of the law’s most sweeping reforms designates Basin Management Action Plans as the pollutant control programs for each impaired watershed. The action plans include enforceable best management practices that are integrated into the overall strategy to meet water quality standards. Once in place, an action plan mandates enforceable water quality improvement requirements for both urban and agricultural activities in the basin to help ensure nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are being reduced.

This plan takes a “bottom-up” approach — the Department of Environmental Protection works with the water management districts, local governments and stakeholders, who work together to develop, implement, and enforce basin-specific detailed plans tailored to achieve water quality standards in each basin.

While the law is beginning to offer significant promise as we work to improve Florida’s water quality issues, it is sadly also causing paid environmental special interests to spread misinformation on what the law is helping to accomplish. Recently, anti-farming environmental activists took to social media and claimed that the bill weakened environmental cleanup targets through a “voluntary” program.

This is simply not true. Under this act, producers who do not implement best management practices or demonstrate that they are meeting water quality standards will be subject to enforcement by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Producers also must comply with applicable regulatory programs, such as consumptive use, environmental resource permitting and pesticide regulation, in addition to implementing best management practices.

While in the Legislature, I worked with other water quality champions such as Adam Putnam to address this very point. Prior to passing this legislation, Florida’s water laws were a patchwork of confusing regulations — costing businesses money for compliance and causing headaches for local water managers.

Now, water quality targets are set according to the watershed, and there is ample opportunity for everyone to provide public input. Nothing in the comprehensive water bill weakened the state’s ability to protect and restore our natural resources. Instead, it provided the proper focus and effort on meeting water quality standards through the implementation of action plans that are fully enforceable by Florida DEP, the state’s lead water quality agency.

As an example, for more than two decades, farmers south of Lake Okeechobee have been growing everything from sugarcane to radishes and even sweet corn, all while making significant progress in reducing nutrients. Failure to comply with this program as outlined in their local action plans will result in significant penalties under state law.

This year, the South Florida Water Management District announced a 70 percent annual reduction in phosphorus — a nutrient that contributes to algal blooms and other local water quality issues. For more than 20 years, these farmers have helped achieve a 55 percent annual average in phosphorus, which in turn helps to send more clean water to the Florida Everglades.

The comprehensive water bill passed by the Legislature will help to take this success story to other communities and ensure every area of Florida is working in the same direction when furthering water quality goals. By increasing coordination among many different stakeholders, we can ensure there’s buy-in from everyone and water quality remains a top priority for our state.

Steve Crisafulli is the former Speaker of the Florida House. He is a small business owner and represented his hometown of Merritt Island in the Florida House of Representatives from 2008 to 2016.