- RECOVERY AND PREVENTION STRATEGIES FOR MINIMUM FLOWS AND LEVELS, Regulatory Portion of Recovery Strategy for the Southern Water Use Caution Area

 

WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS
Southwest Florida Water Management District

RULE NO: RULE TITLE
40D-80: - RECOVERY AND PREVENTION STRATEGIES FOR MINIMUM FLOWS AND LEVELS
40D-80.074: Regulatory Portion of Recovery Strategy for the Southern Water Use Caution Area

NOTICE OF CHANGE

Notice is hereby given in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., that the following changes have been made to the proposed Rule 40D-80.074, F.A.C., published in Vol. 32, No. 19, May 12, 2006, issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly, page 2192.

Changes proposed to the new Rule 40D-80.074, F.A.C., titled “Regulatory Portion of Recovery Strategy For the Southern Water Use Caution Area.”, are shown to the proposed language in an underline and strikethrough format below:

40D-80.074 Regulatory Portion of Recovery Strategy For the Southern Water Use Caution Area.

(1) No change.

(2) Objectives of Recovery Strategy.

Long-term (as defined in Section 4.3 A of the Basis of Review for Water Use Permits, incorporated by reference in Rule 40D-2.091, F.A.C.) flow rates and water levels for most MFL water bodies are below the MFLs predominantly because ground water withdrawals have lowered Floridan aquifer levels in the SWUCA. As a result of the lowered aquifer levels, salt water intrusion is occurring, and river flows and lake levels are impacted by reduced water levels, including some of those rivers and lakes for which MFLs have been established. The goals of the District's Recovery Strategy are the recovery of flows and levels to the MFLs and the provision of sufficient water supplies for all existing and projected reasonable-beneficial uses. The Minimum Flows for rivers are described in Rule 40D-8.041, F.A.C. The Minimum Levels for lakes are described in subsection 40D-8.624(13), F.A.C. The Minimum Levels for aquifers are described in subsection 40D-8.626(2), F.A.C. The MFLs for rivers, lakes and aquifers are described in and established in paragraph 40D-8.041(2), F.A.C., and Table 8-5 in Rule 40D-8.624, F.A.C., and Table 8-2 and Rule 40D-8.626, F.A.C., Table 8-6. The District intends to maintain on its website at www.watermatters.org a current listing of those water bodies for which a recovery or prevention strategy is in effect.

(3) Recovery Strategy Mechanisms.

(a) through (b) No change.

(c) The water use permitting rules in Chapter 40D-2, F.A.C., address water conservation, alternative water supplies and recovery to MFLs. These water conservation and alternative water supplies rules include the amendments to Chapter 40D-2, F.A.C., November 15, 1990, January 1, 2003, as well as subsequent rules effective adopted as of January 1, 2007, 2006 developed in conjunction with the implementation of the Minimum Flows and Levels Recovery Strategy. In combination, these rules result in more efficient use of water and a lessening of impacts from withdrawals on water bodies with established MFLs.

(4) through (6) No change.

(7) The District recognizes that although the rate of salt water intrusion (SWI) will be reduced through implementation of the Recovery Strategy, some existing legal uses of water may be affected by the continued movement of the salt water interface. The District's water supply planning indicates that much of the area potentially susceptible to SWI is experiencing land use transition from traditionally agricultural lands to forms of urban development. The water needs of these new land uses are planned to be met with alternative water supplies funded all or in part by the District to the greatest extent practical. In those cases where the existing permittee, impacted by SWI, desires to continue the existing legal water use, the District has a number of programs that address that situation. The District has available will make its various preventative and remedial programs to permittees potentially at risk of salt water intrusion such as the Quality of Water Improvement Program (QWIP), the Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems (FARMS) program, the New Water Source Initiative, the Water Supply and Resource Development Program, and the Cooperative Funding Program (as it relates to replacement of potentially affected water sources with alternative water supplies). For information on these programs, contact the District's headquarters by calling [phone] or [phone], or by emailing the District at [e-mail] or by opening the District’s website www.watermatters.org and clicking on the link “Contact Us”.