Urban Stormwater Program
Introduction
Florida has implemented a multi-faceted
approach to address the issue of NPS pollutants contributed by erosion and sedimentation
from construction sites and by the stormwater leaving these developments once construction
is completed. Florida has experienced incredible growth since the early 1970s and the
state’s population is projected to increase to over 20,000,000 by the year 2020.
Therefore, continued implementation of urban NPS program is essential to minimize the
adverse environmental effects associated with the growth and associated changes in land
use. Florida’s approach includes land use planning and regulation, public education,
stormwater/environmental resource permits, technical and financial assistance, and
compliance monitoring. However, it should be noted that the primary mechanism to minimize
NPS impacts from these activities is through the state’s growth management program
and regulation under Florida’s stormwater/environmental permitting program. The
current urban stormwater NPS management program involves a partnership between the DEP,
the State’s five water management districts (WMDs), the Department of Community
Affairs (DCA), local governments, and the private sector.
Florida Urban Stormwater NPS
Management Program-The Beginnings
The foundation for Florida’s urban
stormwater program was the work done in the mid-1970s as part of the state’s Section
208 Areawide Water Quality Management Planning efforts. During the late 1970s and early
1980s, numerous investigations were undertaken in Florida to assess the effects of
stormwater on water bodies, to characterize stormwater pollutant loadings from different
land uses, and to evaluate the performance and cost-effectiveness of various
BMPs. These
studies demonstrated that stormwater was the primary source of pollutant loading to state
surface waters. With the state’s rapid growth, it was concluded that the state’s
ability to meet the Clean Water Act (CWA) objective of fishable and swimmable waters
required implementation of strong stormwater programs.
Using Federal grant funds, Florida drafted regulations to control stormwater in
the late 1970s. The first State regulation was implemented by the DER in 1979 as Chapter
17-4.248, F.A.C. Under this rule, the Department based its decision to require a permit
upon a determination of the "insignificance" or "significance" of a
stormwater discharge. This determination seems reasonable in concept; however, in
practice, such a decision is as variable as the personalities involved. What may appear
insignificant to the owner of a shopping center may actually be a significant pollutant
load into an already overloaded stream.
The DEP intended that the rule would be revised when more
detailed information on urban stormwater management became available. About one year after
adoption, the DEP began reviewing the results of on going stormwater research and
established a stormwater task force with membership from all segments of the regulated and
environmental communities. Over a two-year period, a revised stormwater rule, Chapter
17-25, F.A.C., was developed and adopted by the state's Environmental Regulation
Commission. It became effective in February 1982. This rule required a stormwater permit
for all new stormwater discharges and for modifications to existing discharges if flows or
pollutant loading increased.
The new rule was implemented within the framework of the
federal CWA. This law establishes two types of regulatory requirements to control
pollutant discharges: technology-based effluent limitations (TBELs), that reflect the best
controls available considering the technical and economic achievability of those controls,
and water quality-based effluent limitations (WQBELs), that reflect the water quality
standards and allowable pollutant loadings as set forth in a permit. Florida's tremendous
growth and the accompanying creation of tens of thousands of new stormwater discharges,
together with a lack of data on specific cause and effect relationships about stormwater
impacts to receiving waters, made the WQBEL approach unimplementable.
Instead, the stormwater rule was established as a
technology-based program that relies upon the implementation of BMPs that are designed to
achieve a specific level of treatment (performance standard). The performance standards
are set forth in Chapter 62- 40, F.A.C., the Water Resource Implementation Rule. The
performance standard for erosion and sediment control during construction is to retain
sediment on-site, with a backstop that no discharge shall violate the state’s water
quality standard for turbidity. Based on performance and cost-effectiveness investigations
of urban stormwater BMPs, the performance standard for the stormwater treatment was
established as 80% reduction of the average annual loading of total suspended solids for
most discharges, or 95% for direct discharges to Outstanding Florida Waters. In addition,
the water management districts and local governments have established performance
standards to minimize flooding by limiting the post-development stormwater peak discharge
rate and, in some cases such as closed basins, the stormwater volume.
This technology-based program was implemented in accordance
with EPA guidance on the development of stormwater regulatory programs and the role of
water quality criteria. The guidance recognized that BMPs are the primary mechanism for
treating stormwater to achieve water quality standards. The guidance also recommends that
state programs should include the following:
- Design of BMPs based on site-specific conditions,
technical, institutional and economic feasibility, and the water quality standards of the
receiving waters.
- Monitoring to ensure that practices are correctly designed
and applied.
- Monitoring to determine the effectiveness of BMPs in
meeting water quality standards and the appropriateness of water quality criteria in
reasonably assuring protection of beneficial uses.
- Adjustment of BMPs when water quality standards are not
being protected to a designed level, or evaluation and possible adjustment of water
quality standards.
Proper installation and operation
of state approved BMPs should help receiving waters continue to achieve water quality
standards. While water quality standards are to be used to measure the ultimate
effectiveness of stormwater management programs and BMPs, the EPA recognizes that there
should be flexibility in water quality standards to address the variability and
intermittent nature of stormwater discharges. If water quality standards are not met, the
design criteria for the BMPs should be modified. In some cases, the water quality
standards should be reassessed. This latter situation is especially relevant since
existing water quality standards were developed for traditional point sources that
discharge continually, while stormwater discharges are intermittent and represent
relatively short-term, shock loadings to a receiving water. Since most stormwater
pollutants become associated with bottom sediments, sediment and biological community
standards are more appropriate than traditional water chemistry standards in assessing
environmental effects of stormwater discharges.
It is
important to note that the use of nonstructural and structural BMPs are not 100% effective
in controlling NPS pollution from urban development. Changes in land use and the
activities of humans always increase the loading of nonpoint sources of pollution from a
watershed. Additionally, the effectiveness of NPS controls depends on a number of factors
including, but not limited to, skill in the design and implementation of the
BMPs, proper
maintenance, staff limitations for review and enforcement, public education, and funding.
This is why the technical assistance, practitioner training programs, and public education
components of the state’s urban NPS management program are so essential.
Under the Florida Water Resources Act of 1972, the DEP
serves as the umbrella-administering agency for the stormwater management program. It
delegated authority to the WMDs whose primary functions historically were related to
management of water quantity. Therefore, a second objective in developing the Stormwater
Rule was to coordinate the water quality considerations of the DEP’s stormwater
permits with the water quantity aspects of the WMDs' surface water management permits.
Delegation of the stormwater permitting program allowed for
minor adjustments to the design criteria to better reflect regional conditions. Florida is
a diverse state with major differences in soils, geology, topography, rainfall, etc.,
which can directly affect the usability and treatment effectiveness of a BMP. Such
variation could be addressed by adoption by the WMDs of slightly different design criteria
that were approved by the DEP prior to implementation.
Both the DEP’s and WMDs’ stormwater rules require
a new development to implement an approved erosion and sediment control plan during
construction and a comprehensive stormwater management plan/system. The stormwater system
should be viewed as a "BMP treatment train" in which a number of different BMPs
are integrated into a comprehensive system that provides aesthetic and recreational
amenities in addition to traditional stormwater management objectives.
Florida Urban
Stormwater NPS Management Program-The Present
An effective stormwater
management program requires a watershed management team approach involving state, regional
and local governments that complement, but do not duplicate each other’s efforts. To
clarify the institutional roles of each member of the watershed management team,
Chapters 373 and
403, FS, were revised as part of a 1989 stormwater legislation. This law defined
multiple goals and objectives for the stormwater program, and set forth the program's
institutional framework, which involves a partnership among the FDEP, the WMDs and local
governments. It defined the responsibilities of each entity and addresses the need for the
treatment of agricultural runoff by adding a policy in the Agriculture Element of the
State Comprehensive Plan to "eliminate the discharge of inadequately treated
agricultural wastewater and stormwater." It further promoted the watershed approach
being used by the SWIM Program and attempted to integrate stormwater, SWIM, and local
comprehensive planning programs. The Water Resource Implementation Rule (formerly State
Water Policy), an existing but little used FDEP rule, was established as the primary
implementation guidance document for stormwater and all water resources management
programs. The law also created the State Stormwater Demonstration Grant Program as an
incentive to local governments to implement stormwater utilities and provided a one time
appropriation of $2 million for the program.
The
state's stormwater management program is outlined in three sections of Chapter 403,
F.S.:
- Section 403.0891, "State, regional, and local
stormwater management plans and programs," establishes the institutional roles of the
FDEP, WMDs, and local governments in implementing the stormwater program. This section
also requires the Florida Department of Transportation to inventory and map primary
stormwater management systems that it builds, operates, or maintains. The FDEP, in
coordination and cooperation with the WMDs and local governments, is to conduct a
continuing review of the costs of stormwater management systems and the effects on water
quality and quantity, and fish and wildlife values.
- Section 403.0893 - "Stormwater funding,
dedicated funds for stormwater management," authorizes local governments to create
stormwater utilities and stormwater management system benefit areas.
- Section 403.0896 - "Training and assistance for
stormwater management system personnel," requires the development of training and
assistance programs for persons responsible for designing, building, inspecting, or
operating and maintaining stormwater management systems.
In December 1990, the
Environmental Regulation Commission adopted a reorganized Chapter 62-40, Florida
Administrative Code, to be used as guidance by all entities which implement water resource
management programs and regulations. Section 62-40.432, FAC, includes the goals, policies
and institutional framework for the state's stormwater management program.
- Section 62-40.432(1),
F.A.C., "Surface Water
Protection and Management," establishes the goals for the state's stormwater
management program. These include:
- Effective stormwater management for existing and new
systems to protect, preserve and restore the functions of natural systems and the
beneficial uses of waters;
- Preventing stormwater problems from new land use changes
and restoring degraded water bodies by reducing the pollution contributions from older
stormwater systems;
- Preserving freshwater resources by encouraging stormwater
infiltration and reuse;
- Trying to assure that the stormwater peak discharge rate,
volume and pollutant loading are no greater after a site is developed than before; and
- Eliminating the discharge of inadequately managed
stormwater into waters and to minimize other adverse impacts on natural systems, property
and the health, safety and welfare caused by improperly managed stormwater.
- Section 62-40.431(3), FAC, "Stormwater Management
Program Implementation," sets out the institutional roles of the FDEP, the
WMDs, and
local governments.
- DEP is the lead agency responsible for coordinating the
statewide program and for implementing parts of the program.
- WMDs are the chief administrators of the stormwater program
responsible for setting regional goals and policies, permitting most activities,
establishing stormwater pollutant load reduction goals, and preparation of watershed
management plans.
- Local governments are responsible for adopting a
comprehensive land use plan that is consistent with State and regional goals, and for
implementing a stormwater program that includes the development and implementation of a
stormwater master plan and provisions to assure that stormwater systems are properly
operated and maintained.
- Section 62-40.432(4),
F.A.C., "Surface Water
Management," establishes how the FDEP and WMDs will determine whether a stormwater
management system is harmful to water resources or is inconsistent with the objectives of
the agencies.
- Section 62-40.432(5),
F.A.C., "Minimum Stormwater
Performance Standards", establishes the following minimum treatment performance
standards:
- Retaining sediment on-site during construction with no
violation of turbidity standards for discharges during construction;
- Eighty percent average annual load reduction of TSS for new
stormwater discharges to Class 3 waters (most water bodies);
- Ninety-five percent average annual load reduction of TSS
for new stormwater discharges to Outstanding Florida Waters;
- Reducing, on a watershed basis, the pollutant loading from
older stormwater systems, as needed to protect, maintain or restore the beneficial uses of
the receiving water body. The amount of needed pollutant load reduction is known as a
"Pollutant Load Reduction Goal, or PLRG."
In addition to being the first
state in the country to establish a statewide program requiring the treatment of
stormwater from new developments, Florida is also unique in having a performance standard
for older stormwater systems that were built before the implementation of the Stormwater
Rule in 1982. As seen above, Section 62-40.432 (5)(c), F.A.C., states that "the
pollutant loading from older stormwater management systems shall be reduced as needed to
restore or maintain the beneficial uses of waters." Furthermore, this rule requires
the WMDs to establish stormwater pollutant load reduction goals (PLRGs) and adopt them as
part of a SWIM plan, other watershed plan, or rule. Stormwater PLRGs are a major component
of the Load Allocation part of a TMDL. To date, stormwater PLRGs have been established for
Tampa Bay, Lake Thonotosassa, Winter Haven Chain of Lakes, the Everglades, Lake
Okeechobee, and Lake Apopka.
In 1993, the Florida
Legislature, as part of the Environmental Reorganization Act of 1993, modified parts of
Chapters 373 and 403, F.S., combining wetland resource permitting and stormwater
management permitting into an "Environmental Resource Permit" regulation. DEP
and the WMDs, depending upon the type of activity that is permitted, share implementation
of this program. Accordingly, most development projects now receive an Environmental
Resource Permit that minimizes the wetland impacts, the stormwater quantity impacts, and
the stormwater quality impacts of the project. Before a project can be permitted, however,
it must be reviewed and approved by the local government which makes sure that the project
is consistent with its comprehensive plan and the implementing land development
regulations. It is at this time that the nonstructural, land use planning BMPs are
incorporated into the project.
Continued
Nonpoint Source
Management Program
2600 Blair Stone Road Mail Station 3570
Tallahassee, FL, 32399-2400
Phone (850) 245-7508
2012 State of Florida