The proposed rules establish numeric nutrient criteria (NNC) for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll a in individual estuary segments for the following estuaries: Loxahatchee River, Lake Worth Lagoon, Halifax River, Guana River/...

 

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

RULE NO.:RULE TITLE:

62-302.532Estuary-Specific Numeric Interpretations of the Narrative Nutrient Criterion

PURPOSE AND EFFECT: The proposed rules establish numeric nutrient criteria (NNC) for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll a in individual estuary segments for the following estuaries:  Loxahatchee River, Lake Worth Lagoon, Halifax River, Guana River/Tolomato River/Matanzas River (GTM), Nassau River, Suwannee River, Waccasassa River, Withlacoochee River, and Springs Coast (Crystal River to Anclote River). In addition, NNC for remotely sensed chlorophyll a are established for coastal offshore waters that do not have chlorophyll a criteria derived from field-collected water quality measurements.

SUMMARY: The Department is amending Rule 62-302.532, F.A.C., to establish NNC for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll a in individual estuary segments for the following estuaries:  Loxahatchee River, Lake Worth Lagoon, Halifax River, Guana River/Tolomato River/Matanzas River (GTM), Nassau River, Suwannee River, Waccasassa River, Withlacoochee River, and Springs Coast (Crystal River to Anclote River).   In addition, remotely sensed NNC for chlorophyll a are established for coastal offshore waters where chlorophyll a criteria have not been adopted.

OTHER RULES INCORPORATING THIS RULE: Chapter 62-302, F.A.C., is referenced by the following rules: 

18-2.021, 62-4.160, 62-4.241, 62-4.242, 62-4.244, 62-4.246, 62-25.001, 62-25.025, 62-25.080, 62-40.120, 62-40.210, 62-45.070, 62-45.170, 62-110.106, 62-113, 200, 62-301.100, 62-302.200, 62-302.300, 62-302.400, 62-302.500, 62-302.520, 62-302.530, 62-302.531, 62-302.532, 62-302.540, 62-302.700, 62-302.800, 62-303.100, 62-303.200, 62-303.320, 62-303.330, 62-303.351, 62-303.352, 62-303.353, 62-303.354, 62-303.370, 62-303.390, 62-303.400, 62-303.430, 62-303.450, 62-303.720, 62-304.310, 62-304.335, 62-312.400, 62-330.100, 62-330.200, 62-330.405, 62-330.410, 62-330.412, 62-330.630, 62-340.700, 62-346.050, 62-346.051, 62-346.301, 62-348.200, 62-520.200, 62-520.520, 62-528.610, 62-528.630, 62-600.120. 62-600.200, 62-600.300, 62-600.400, 62-600.430, 62-600.440, 62-600.500, 62-600.520, 62-610.200, 62-610.300, 62-610.310, 62-610.554,62-610.555, 62-610.650, 62-610.670, 62-610.810, 62-610.820, 62-610.830, 62-610.850, 62-610.860, 62-611.110, 62-611.200, 62-611.450, 62-611.500, 62-611.600, 62-611.650, 62-611.700, 62-620.320, 62-620.620, 62-621.303,62-624.800, 62-625.400, 62-640.400, 62-650.300, 62-660.300, 62-673.340, 62-673.610, 62-701.200, 62-709.500, 62-711.540, 62-761.200, 62-762.201, 62-770.200, 62-771.100, 62-777.150, 62-777.170, 62-780.200, 62-782.200, 62-785.200, 62B-49.008, 62B-49.012,62C-16.0051,  F.A.C.  Rule 62-302.532, F.A.C., is referenced by the following rules:   Rules 62-302.531 and 62-303.450, F.A.C.

EFFECT ON THOSE OTHER RULES: The proposed amendments are not expected to have significant effects on other rules.  The proposed amendments establish estuary-specific NNC that maintain existing conditions. 

SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED REGULATORY COSTS AND LEGISLATIVE RATIFICATION: The Agency has determined that this will not have an adverse impact on small business or likely increase directly or indirectly regulatory costs in excess of $200,000 in the aggregate within one year after the implementation of the rule. A SERC has not been prepared by the agency.

The Agency has determined that the proposed rule is not expected to require legislative ratification based on the statement of estimated regulatory costs or if no SERC is required, the information expressly relied upon and described herein: numeric nutrient criteria for the estuaries addressed in this rulemaking are being established based on existing conditions and require no reductions in nutrient loads.

Any person who wishes to provide information regarding a statement of estimated regulatory costs, or provide a proposal for a lower cost regulatory alternative must do so in writing within 21 days of this notice.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY: 403.061, 403.062, 403.087, 403.504, 403.704, 403.804 FS.

LAW IMPLEMENTED: 403.021(11), 403.061, 403.087, 403.088, 403.141, 403.161, 403.182, 403.502, 403.702, 403.708 FS.

A HEARING WILL BE HELD AT THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE SHOWN BELOW:

DATE AND TIME: Thursday, June 20, 2013, 9:00 a.m.

PLACE: Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Marjory Stoneman Douglas Building, Conference Room A, 3900 Commonwealth Boulevard, Tallahassee, Florida

Pursuant to the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, any person requiring special accommodations to participate in this workshop/meeting is asked to advise the agency at least 5 days before the workshop/meeting by contacting: Eric Shaw at [phone] or the below information. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the agency using the Florida Relay Service, 1(800)955-8771 (TDD) or 1(800)955-8770 (Voice).

THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: Eric Shaw, Department of Environmental Protection, Water Quality Standards Program, MS 6511, 2600 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400, [phone] or e-mail: [e-mail]

 

THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE IS:

 

62-302.532 Estuary-Specific Numeric Interpretations of the Narrative Nutrient Criterion. 

(1) Estuary-specific numeric interpretations of the narrative nutrient criterion in paragraph 62-302.530(47)(b), F.A.C., are in the table below. The concentration-based estuary interpretations are open water, area-wide averages.  Nutrient and nutrient response values do not apply to wetlands or to tidal tributaries that fluctuate between predominantly marine and predominantly fresh waters during typical climatic and hydrologic conditions. The interpretations expressed as load per million cubic meters of freshwater inflow are the total load of that nutrient to the estuary divided by the total volume of freshwater inflow to that estuary.

(a) through (p) No change.

 

Estuary	Total Phosphorus	Total Nitrogen	Chlorophyll a
(q) Loxahatchee River Estuary	For estuary segments with criteria expressed as annual geometric means (AGM), the values shall not be exceeded more than once in a three year period. For all other estuary segments, the criteria shall not be exceeded in more than 10 percent of the measurements.
1. Lower Loxahatchee	0.032 mg/L as AGM	0.63 mg/L as AGM	1.8 μg/L as AGM
2. Middle Loxahatchee	0.030 mg/L as AGM	0.80 mg/L as AGM	4.0 μg/L as AGM
3. Upper Loxahatchee	0.072 mg/L as AGM	1.35 mg/L as AGM	14.3 μg/L
(r) Lake Worth Lagoon	For estuary segments with criteria expressed as annual geometric means (AGM), the values shall not be exceeded more than once in a three year period. For all other estuary segments, the criteria shall not be exceeded in more than 10 percent of the measurements.
1. Northern Lake Worth Lagoon	0.028 mg/L as AGM	0.65 mg/L as AGM	2.7 μg/L as AGM
2. Central Lake Worth Lagoon	0.097 mg/L	1.43 mg/L	10.3 μg/L
3. Southern Lake Worth Lagoon	0.050 mg/L as AGM	0.59 mg/L as AGM	5.7 μg/L as AGM
(s) Halifax River Estuary	For estuary segments with criteria expressed as annual geometric means (AGM), the values shall not be exceeded more than once in a three year period.
Lower Halifax River Estuary	0.142 mg/L as AGM	0.72 mg/L as AGM	6.2 µg/L as AGM
(t) Guana River/Tolomato River/Matanzas River (GTM) Estuary	Criteria for all estuary segments are expressed as annual geometric mean values not to be exceeded more than once in a three year period.
1. Tolomato	0.105 mg/L as AGM	0.65 mg/L as AGM	6.6 μg/L as AGM
2. North Matanzas	0.110 mg/L as AGM	0.55 mg/L as AGM	4.0 μg/L as AGM
3. South Matanzas	0.111 mg/L as AGM	0.53 mg/L as AGM	5.5 μg/L as AGM
(u) Nassau River Estuary	For estuary segments with criteria expressed as annual geometric means (AGM), the values shall not be exceeded more than once in a three year period. For all other estuary segments, the criteria shall not be exceeded in more than 10 percent of the measurements.
1. Ft. George River Estuary	0.107 mg/L as AGM	0.60 mg/L as AGM	5.9 μg/L as AGM
2. Lower Nassau	0.107 mg/L as AGM	0.80mg/L as AGM	17.5 μg/L
3. Middle Nassau	0.137 mg/L as AGM	0.83 mg/L as AGM	17.1 μg/L
4. Upper Nassau	0.191 mg/L as AGM	1.29 mg/L as AGM	4.7 μg/L as AGM
(v) Suwannee, Waccasassa, and Withlacoochee River Estuaries	For estuary segments with criteria expressed as single value annual geometric means (AGM), the values shall not be exceeded more than once in a three year period. For estuary segments with criteria expressed as a salinity dependent equation, the annual nutrient criteria are expressed as annual geometric means applied to individual monitoring stations by solving the applicable equation below using the annual arithmetic average salinity (AASal) in practical salinity units (PSU) for the station.  The AASal shall be calculated as the annual mean of the salinity measurements for each station made in conjunction with the collection of the nutrient samples.  For criteria expressed as a salinity dependant equation, no more than 10 percent of the monitoring stations within the segment shall exceed the limit (expressed as AGM) on an annual basis, more than once in a three year period.
1. Suwannee Offshore	TP as AGM = -0.0035*AASal + 0.1402	TN as AGM = -0.0328*AASal + 1.4177	5.7 µg/L as AGM
2. Waccasassa Offshore	0.063 mg/L as AGM	0.69 mg/L as AGM	5.6 µg/L as AGM
3. Withlacoochee Offshore	TP as AGM = -0.0021*AASal + 0.0942	TN as AGM = -0.0183*AASal + 0.9720	4.9 µg/L as AGM
(w) Springs Coast (Crystal River to Anclote River)	For estuary segments with criteria expressed as annual geometric means (AGM), the values shall not be exceeded more than once in a three year period.
1. Anclote Offshore	0.014 mg/L as AGM	0.42 mg/L as AGM	1.7 μg/L as AGM
2. Anclote River Estuary	0.063 mg/L as AGM	0.65 mg/L as AGM	3.8 μg/L as AGM
3. Aripeka and Hudson Offshore	0.008 mg/L as AGM	0.45 mg/L as AGM	0.8 μg/L as AGM
4. Chassahowitzka NWR	0.015 mg/L as AGM	0.55 mg/L as AGM	2.0 μg/L as AGM
5. Chassahowitzka Offshore	0.011 mg/L as AGM	0.46 mg/L as AGM	1.5 μg/L as AGM
6. Chassahowitzka River Estuary	0.021 mg/L as AGM	0.44 mg/L as AGM	3.9 μg/L as AGM
7. Crystal Offshore	0.034 mg/L as AGM	0.40 mg/L as AGM	2.4 μg/L as AGM
8. Crystal River Estuary	0.047 mg/L as AGM	0.37 mg/L as AGM	4.4 μg/L as AGM
9. Homosassa Offshore	0.012 mg/L as AGM	0.46 mg/L as AGM	1.3 μg/L as AGM
10. Homosassa River Estuary	0.028 mg/L as AGM	0.51 mg/L as AGM	7.7 μg/L as AGM
12. Pithlachascotee Offshore	0.010 mg/L as AGM	0.47 mg/L as AGM	1.0 μg/L as AGM
13. Pithlachascotee River Estuary	0.034 mg/L as AGM	0.65 mg/L as AGM	4.0 μg/L as AGM
14. St. Martins Marsh	0.031 mg/L as AGM	0.51 mg/L as AGM	3.2 μg/L as AGM
15. Weeki Wachee Offshore	0.017 mg/L as AGM	0.54 mg/L as AGM	1.2 μg/L as AGM
16. Weeki Wachee River Estuary	0.019 mg/L as AGM	0.60 mg/L as AGM	1.9 μg/L as AGM

 

(2)  Criteria for chlorophyll a in open ocean coastal waters, derived from satellite remote sensing techniques, are provided in the table below.  In each coastal segment specified in the Map of Florida Coastal Segments, which is incorporated by reference herein, the Annual Geometric Mean remotely sensed chlorophyll a value, calculated excluding Karenia brevis blooms (>50,000 cells/L), shall not be exceeded more than once in a three year period.  The annual geometric means provided in the table below are based on measurements using the SeaWiFS satellite. Achievement of these criteria shall be assessed only by using satellite remote sensing data that are processed in a manner consistent with the derivation of the criteria.  Data selection and preparation shall be consistent with the process described in Section 1.4.3 and Section 1.4.4, pages 14 through 17, in the report titled “Technical Support Document for U.S. EPA’s Proposed Rule for Numeric Nutrient Criteria for Florida’s Estuaries, Coastal Waters, and South Florida Inland Flowing Waters, Volume 2: Coastal Waters,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, November 30, 2012, the specified pages of which are incorporated by reference herein. If MODIS or MERIS satellite data are used, the data shall be normalized using the standardization factors provided in the table below, consistent with the process described in Section 1.6.3, pages 26 through 33, in the above referenced EPA document, the specified pages of which are incorporated herein. A copy of the Map of Florida Coastal Segments and the referenced pages from EPA’s document above are available by writing to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Standards and Assessment Section, 2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 6511, Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400. 

 

Coastal Segment	Annual Geometric Mean Remotely Sensed Chlorophyll a	MODIS Standardization Factor	MERIS Standardization Factor
1	2.45	0.54	-0.71
2	2.65	0.99	-0.07
3	1.48	0.41	-0.22
4	1.20	0.26	-0.30
5	1.09	0.15	-0.28
6	1.07	0.29	-0.01
7	1.17	0.33	-0.02
8	1.27	0.38	-0.05
9	1.09	0.20	-0.07
10	1.13	0.41	-0.07
11	1.14	0.31	-0.05
12	1.21	0.41	-0.05
13	1.53	0.50	-0.13
14	1.80	0.69	0.01
15	2.80	0.68	0.58
16	2.49	-0.14	0.27
17	3.57	0.08	1.41
18	5.62	0.50	0.03
19	4.90	0.50	0.31
20	4.33	-0.02	-0.69
21	4.06	-0.63	-1.09
22	4.54	-0.46	-0.17
23	3.40	-1.21	-0.67
24	3.41	-2.37	0.01
25	3.11	-2.84	0.05
26	3.00	-4.16	-0.36
27	3.05	-1.77	-0.81
28	3.41	-2.13	-0.61
29	4.55	-0.83	-0.74
30	4.32	-0.74	-0.04
31	3.77	-0.29	-0.90
32	4.30	0.17	-0.47
33	5.98	0.10	0.80
34	4.63	-0.77	-0.32
35	4.14	0.42	-0.83
37	1.01	0.39	0.59
38	0.26	-0.04	-0.03
39	0.27	-0.02	0.00
40	0.25	-0.03	-0.01
41	0.21	-0.06	-0.01
42	0.21	-0.03	0.03
43	0.21	-0.02	0.04
44	0.20	-0.02	0.01
45	0.21	-0.04	0.02
46	0.26	-0.05	-0.01
47	0.58	-0.10	0.03
48	1.09	0.03	0.09
49	1.48	0.39	0.36
50	1.85	0.21	0.32
51	1.72	0.23	0.31
52	1.73	0.05	0.58
53	1.87	0.00	0.47
54	1.66	-0.13	0.31
55	1.60	0.18	0.71
56	2.12	0.11	0.39
57	2.83	0.44	0.84
58	2.63	0.09	0.40
59	2.34	0.06	0.33
60	2.17	0.07	0.29
61	2.01	-0.20	-0.06
62	1.93	0.18	-0.11
63	1.90	-0.69	-0.20
64	2.13	-0.79	-0.20
65	1.96	-0.72	-0.13
66	1.95	-0.85	-0.40
67	2.06	-0.33	-0.53
68	2.51	-0.47	-0.08
69	2.86	-0.60	-0.22
70	2.88	-1.39	-0.32
71	3.62	-2.00	-0.38
72	3.80	-1.38	-0.40
73	3.94	-0.28	-0.49
74	4.36	-0.16	-1.17

 

(3)(2) Estuarine and marine areas for the Southwest and South Florida estuaries listed in paragraphs 62-302.532(1)(a)-(j), F.A.C., are delineated in the eight maps of the Florida Marine Nutrient Regions, all dated May 13, 2013 October 19, 2011, which are incorporated by reference. Estuarine and marine areas for the Panhandle estuaries listed in paragraphs 62-302.532(1)(k)-(p), F.A.C., are delineated in the six maps of the Florida Marine Nutrient Regions, dated October 1, 2012, which are incorporated by reference.  Estuarine and marine areas for the estuaries listed in paragraphs 62-302.532(1)(q)-(w), F.A.C., are delineated in the seven maps of the Florida Marine Nutrient Regions, dated May 13, 2013, which are incorporated by reference herein.  Copies of these maps may be obtained from the Department’s internet site at http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/wqssp/wqssp/swq-docs.htm or by writing to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Standards and Assessment Section, 2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 6511, Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400.

(3)(4) No change.

Rulemaking Authority 403.061, 403.062, 403.087, 403.504, 403.704, 403.804 FS. Law Implemented 403.021(11), 403.061, 403.087, 403.088, 403.141, 403.161, 403.182, 403.502, 403.702, 403.708 FS. History–New 7-3-12, Amended 12-20-12, _________.

 

Editorial Note: Rule subsections 62-302.532(1)-(2) became effective on 7-3-12, 20 days after filing the rule certification package for Florida’s numeric nutrient standards. Rule subsection 62-302.532(4) 62-302.532(3) will become effective upon approval by EPA in its entirety, conclusion of rulemaking by EPA to repeal its federal numeric nutrient criterion for Florida, and EPA’s determination that Florida’s rules address its January 2009 determination that numeric nutrient criteria are needed in Florida.

 

NAME OF PERSON ORIGINATING PROPOSED RULE: Drew Bartlett

NAME OF AGENCY HEAD WHO APPROVED THE PROPOSED RULE: Herschel T. Vinyard Jr.

DATE PROPOSED RULE APPROVED BY AGENCY HEAD: May 28, 2013

DATE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE DEVELOPMENT PUBLISHED IN FAR: March 13, 2012