Bruce Ritchie
A House committee voted Wednesday to introduce a comprehensive water bill despite concerns from environmentalists that the bill doesn’t go far enough to protect springs.
House State Affairs Committee Bill 15-01 addresses springs, water planning in Central Florida, and removes duplicate permitting for agriculture around Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.
Many of Florida’s springs have become choked with weeds and algae in the past 20 years because of excess nitrogen in groundwater from a variety of sources including farms, septic tanks and fertilizer.
The committee bill relies heavily on the existing Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s regulatory structure, which is criticized by some environmentalists. On Wednesday, the committee rewrote its draft bill to remove a requirement for the state to establish protection zones around each of Florida’s 33 largest “first-magnitude” springs after groups representing agriculture and landscaping groups objected this past week.
The rewritten bill adds more springs to the list of priority springs to be protected and establishes a 2018 deadline for the state to assess springs for groundwater contamination. The bill also requires recovery plans to prevent over pumping at the time minimum flows are set for springs.
While praising the House effort, environmentalists said the bill fails to address groundwater pollution from urban areas and relies on agricultural “best management practices” that they say experts have criticized as inadequate to reduce groundwater contamination.
Environmentalists also are looking for funding for projects to reduce pollution but are concerned that the money would come from Amendment 1, the water and land conservation funding initiative approved by voters in November.
Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-Lehigh Acres and committee chairman, said after the meeting that funding for pollution-reduction projects will be handled separately. He said there are projects he could envision receiving Amendment 1 funding.
“My goal is to get the policy right; that’s our charge in this committee,” Caldwell said. “Once we get the policy right, then we’ll figure out how to pay for what we do.”
The bill passed with support from groups including Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.
Most Democrats on the House State Affairs Committee voted against the bill. Rep, Kristin Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek, said the bill failed to address septic tanks, stormwater runoff and urban landscaping.
Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach and House Democratic leader, said the bill should be revised to represent what he said Republican House Speaker Steve Crisafulli wants: “a comprehensive, historic water bill.”
“We’ve got a couple of months ahead of us,” Pafford said. “The bill can be made a lot stronger. We want to be helpful in that process.”
Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida, said the bill lacks protective zones around springs where certain polluting activities should be prohibited. Those were defined in a Senate bill last year that failed to pass the House.
He said, however, there is support from environmentalists for the bill because the House is at least taking up legislation this year.
“Caldwell is working with us,” Draper said. But he said stronger environmental legislation is expected to come out of the Senate.
Audubon Florida raised concerns this past week that the South Florida Water Management District’s “works of the district” permitting program for Lake Okeechobee pollution would be eliminated. He said he won’t push the issue because the revised bill now calls for the Department of Environmental Protection to provide a permitting backstop.
Caldwell also said the draft legislation was revised to deal with concerns but he still wants to address issues raised by Democrats and environmentalists as the bill moves forward.
“From the perspective of getting the policy right we’re going to keep moving forward in the committee process,” Caldwell said. The strike-all amendment for the committee bill can be found here.
Bruce Ritchie (@bruceritchie) covers environment, energy and growth management in Tallahassee.
