The following notification for changes to the Impaired Water Rule has been sent. Note the links to the assessments. Note also the time and place for the Suwannee Basin is May 7 at 12:30 at the Suwannee River Water Management District headquarters in Live Oak.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
-A river is like a life: once taken, it cannot be brought back-
To: Group 1 Basin Stakeholders
From: Kevin O’Donnell, Environmental Administrator
Subject: Assessments in the Group 1 Basins for the Revised Verified List of Impaired Waters, Delist List, Study List, and Study List Removals
The department’s Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration (DEAR) announces the availability of the REVISED list of assessments for waterbodies and water segments within the Group 1 Basins: Everglades West Coast, Lake Okeechobee, Ocklawaha, Ochlockonee – St. Marks, Suwannee, and Tampa Bay.
DEAR staff will present the REVISED assessment lists for the Group 1 basins, developed pursuant to Chapter 62-303, Florida Administrative Code. The REVISED Verified Lists include those waters that are proposed as additions to the State’s Verified List of Impaired Waters and the federal 303(d) list. The REVISED Delist Lists include those waters that are proposed for removal from the State’s Verified List and federal 303(d) list. The REVISED Study Lists include those waters that do not attain water quality standards, but a causative pollutant has not been determined; waters that have an adverse trend in nutrients or nutrient response variables; or there are exceedances of stream nutrients thresholds, but the department does not have enough information to fully assess nonattainment of the stream nutrient water quality standard. The revised assessment lists will be available for comment by April 23, 2019 on the department’s Watershed Assessment webpage: https://floridadep.gov/dear/watershed-assessment-section/content/news-announcements, or can be provided upon request to interested parties by mail or via e-mail distribution. These lists reflect the department’s current assessments for these waterbodies, but are subject to change based on input received during the public comment period ending on May 31st, 2019.
These REVISED assessment lists were produced with water quality and biological data included in the IWR Database Run 56 and reflect several major milestones to the assessment of Florida’s waterbodies. In particular, the REVISED assessment lists include the revised dissolved oxygen criteria assessed as percent saturation (replacing the assessment of dissolved oxygen as mg/L), and the implementation of numeric nutrient criteria for streams, lakes, springs, and estuaries. These assessments incorporate water quality and biological data that has been received by the department as of November 30, 2018 and include information received on the draft assessment lists.
The department will be conducting five public meetings at the locations and dates listed below. Copies of the agendas, maps and other supporting materials for all Group 1 basins are available at: http://publicfiles.dep.state.fl.us/DEAR/watershed/WQAP_WAS_G1C4_MtgMaterials_Revised/. For questions or further information, please contact Kevin O’Donnell at Kevin.Odonnell@dep.state.fl.us, or at the mailing address and phone number below. After the lists are finalized they will be presented to the Secretary of the department for adoption.
Meeting Dates and Times:
DATE AND TIME: April 30, 2019, 10:00 a.m. for the Lake Okeechobee Basin
PLACE: SFWMD Field Station, 1000 N.E. 40th Avenue, Okeechobee, FL
DATE AND TIME: May 1, 2019, 9:00 a.m. for the Everglades West Coast Basin
PLACE: W. Harmon Turner Building – Building “F”, 5th Floor, Suite 534, 3299 Tamiami Trail East, Naples, FL
DATE AND TIME: May 2, 2019, 9:30 a.m. for the Ochlockonee – St. Marks Basin
PLACE: Bob Martinez Center, Conference Room 609, 2600 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee, FL
DATE AND TIME: May 7, 2019, 12:30 p.m. for the Suwannee and Ocklawaha Basins
PLACE: SRWMD, Room 137 (Santa Fe), 9225 County Road 49, Live Oak, FL
DATE AND TIME: May 9, 2019, 10:00 a.m. for the Tampa Bay Basin
PLACE: Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center, Auditorium (Butterfly Room), 3940 Keystone Road, Tarpon Springs, FL
Thank you!
Kevin O’Donnell
Environmental Administrator
Watershed Assessment Section
Division of Environmental Assessment & Restoration
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Rd MS# 3560
Tallahassee, FL 32399
850.245.8469
DEP must stand up for the Environment. This is a step backwards when rivers become fires. I have seen this in my lifetime, we have come a long way forward in protection of our waterways, now we are going backward. My family lived in St. Louis, Mo. My Dad worked in a steel foundry. He told us in disgust, that St. Louis Steel would take the heavy metals by the truckload, at night, and dump the steel waste heavy metals directly into the Mississippi River. Are we going to do this again? Great efforts were made to prohibit harmful impacts to our waters, what are you doing? All the cities down river used this toxic water for their cities For Petes Sake, stand up!