The Florida Department of Environmental Protection adopted plans to reduce pollution to Florida’s rivers, springs and estuaries on Friday.
Florida’s Clean Waterways Act required the agency update the plans by July 1.
The documents identify sources of nitrogen and phosphorus including agriculture, septic tanks and urban fertilizers and set long-term goals for reducing their impacts.
The agency adopted its first basin management action plan in 2007 for the Upper Ocklawaha River. More than 30 others followed with mixed success. Plans adopted in 2018 aimed to reduce nitrogen pollution at Florida’s Outstanding Springs by about 8.7 million pounds per year.
Instead of shrinking, contaminants grew.
Between 2016 and 2024, nitrogen increased by about 1.5 million pounds per year on average in impaired outstanding springs, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Florida Springs Institute.
An appellate court ruled in 2023 that a subset of the existing plans, made for Florida’s Outstanding Springs, didn’t comply with Florida law. That’s because they didn’t specify how much each category of polluter needed to reduce their footprint.
Friday’s plans do.
For example, farm fertilizer accounts for the largest share of nitrogen contamination in groundwater in the Ichetucknee springshed. Septic is the next largest contributor, accounting for about a fifth of discharges.
The plan aims to slash nitrogen levels in half by 2038. Agriculture is responsible for more than half of the reduction, followed by Columbia County, Lake City and private golf courses.
If stakeholders don’t comply, DEP can enforce civil penalties or court-ordered injunctions.
“Today’s adoption of these plans is a significant milestone made possible through input, collaboration and dedication,” said DEP Secretary Alexis A. Lambert in a June 27 press release.
DEP gathered input from more than 60 public meetings and 100 private ones while drafting the updates.
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