DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
RULE NO.: RULE TITLE:
62-304.305: Ochlockonee Basin TMDLs
NOTICE OF CHANGE
Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 42 No. 243, December 16, 2016 issue of the Florida Administrative Register.
The change is supported by the record of the public hearings held on the rule as well as written material submitted to the agency between the date of publication of the notice and the end of the final public hearing. § 120.54(3)(d), Fla. Stat.
Subsection 62-304.305(5) is being changed to 1) update the proposed total maximum daily load (TMDL) to reflect revised computer modeling that has been performed, 2) round the percent reductions to the first digit, and 3) remove the geographical reference in the Load Allocation as the Department has no authority to enforce such allocations outside of Florida. With these changes the proposed rule reads:
62-304.305 Ochlockonee River Basin TMDLs.
(1) through (4) No change.
(5) Lake Talquin. The nutrient TMDL for Lake Talquin is a seven-year average of annual loads of 915,783 671,736 kg/year TN and 76,585 66,322 kg/year TP which are intended to achieve the applicable annual geometric mean chlorophyll a criterion for high color lakes, and is allocated as follows:
(a) The WLA for wastewater point sources is divided between the City of Quincy domestic wastewater facility (NPDES permit FL0029033) and the City of Tallahassee A. B. Hopkins power plant (NPDES permit FL0025518). The allocation to the Quincy wastewater facility for TP is 1,271 kg/year and 4,922 kg/year for TN. The allocation to the Hopkins power plant for TP is 2,187 kg/year and 1,020 kg/year for TN,
(b) The WLA for discharges subject to the department’s NPDES MS4 Permitting Program is a 27% 27.2% reduction of TN and a 33% 32.9% reduction of TP based on average nutrient loads from the 2006-2012 period,
(c) The LA for nonpoint sources in Florida and Georgia is a 27% 27.2% reduction of TN and an 33% 32.9% reduction of TP based on average loads from the 2006-2012 period, and
(d) The Margin of Safety is implicit.
(e) While the LA and MS4 WLA for TN and TP has been expressed as the percent reduction needed to attain the applicable Class III nutrient criteria, it is the combined reductions from both anthropogenic point and nonpoint sources that will result in the restoration of nutrient conditions in the impaired waterbody. However, it is not the intent of this TMDL to abate natural background conditions.
Rulemaking Authority 403.061, 403.067 FS. Law Implemented 403.061, 403.062, 403.067 FS. History–New 10-21-08, Amended .
