The District program administers the regulatory program for approximately 888 of the statewide 3250 (or 37%) domestic wastewater treatment facilities. This District has environmentally sensitive coastal areas, estuaries and fresh water systems. As a result there have been various legislative mandates requiring higher levels of domestic wastewater treatment for an area essentially coincident with this District's boundaries.

The Grizzle-Figg legislation is the most recent of these mandates and requires advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) and a point of discharge which causes no more than a "minimum negative impact" (MNI) for all surface water discharges from domestic wastewater treatment plants. As a result of the sensitivity of this District's environment, the public interest, and the legislative initiatives, many of the surface water discharges have been converted to land application including reuse. Presently over 850 of the approximately 888 facilities discharge to the land and thereby add an extra measure of environmental protection to surface waters in this District. Permitting of land application sites because of the additional treatment and operational requirements of the Department's new Reuse Rule (Chapter 62-610. F.A.C.) is very complex. Also, all facilities of 0.1 MGD or greater discharging onto land application sites require a Ground Water Monitoring Plan (Chapter 62-522. F. A. C.) to protect the areas ground waters. This review is coordinated with Technical Services. As a result there are fewer than 36 domestic wastewater treatment plants in this District which require a USEPA National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. All of the approximately 888 domestic wastewater facilities require a State permit and the associated compliance and enforcement supervision by this District. The staff of this program also administer the new rule Chapter 62-640. F.A.C. for the regulation of domestic wastewater residuals. This program regulates the generation, handling and disposal of residuals from domestic wastewater treatment facilities.

The Southwest District has one of the most active reuse areas in the state and the vast majority of the NPDES systems provide advanced wastewater treatment.