62-303.460. Primary Contact and Recreation Use Support  


Effective on Wednesday, February 17, 2016
  • 1(1) The Department shall review the data used by the DOH as the basis for bathing area closures, advisories or warnings and verify that the values exceeded the applicable DOH thresholds and the data meet the requirements of Chapter 62-160, F.A.C. If the segment is listed on the Planning List based on bathing area closures, advisories, or warnings issued by a local health department or county government, the closures, advisories, or warnings based on red tides, rip tides, sewage spills, sewer line breaks, dangerous aquatic life, medical wastes, hurricanes, or other factors not related to chronic discharges of pollutants shall not be included when verifying primary contact and recreation use support. The Department shall then re-evaluate the remaining data using the methodology in subsection 12562-303.360(2), 126F.A.C. Water segments that meet the criteria in subsection 13562-303.360(2), 136F.A.C., shall be included on the Verified List as impaired.

    146(2) If the water segment was listed on the Planning or Study List due to samples that do not meet water quality criteria for bacteriological quality, the Department shall, to the extent practical, evaluate the source of bacteriological contamination and shall verify that the impairment is due to chronic sources of human-induced bacteriological pollutants before verifying the water segment is impaired. The Department shall take into account the proximity of municipal stormwater outfalls, septic tanks, domestic wastewater facilities, and other anthropogenic discharges when evaluating potential sources of bacteriological pollutants. For water segments that contain municipal stormwater outfalls, the impairment documented for the segment shall be presumed to be due, at least in part, to chronic discharges of bacteriological pollutants. The Department shall then re-evaluate the data using the methodology in subsection 27762-303.320(1), 278F.A.C., excluding any values that have been demonstrated to be elevated solely due to non-anthropogenic sources. If information is provided to the Department indicating that the exceedances may be due 308to natural sources but there is uncertainty whether anthropogenic sources contributed to the exceedances, 322the water segment shall be placed on the Study List pursuant to paragraph 33562-303.390(2)(g), 336F.A.C.

    337(3) Water segments shall be included on the Verified List if:

    348(a) The number of samples that exceed the applicable bacteriological water quality criteria expressed as a TPTV meets the requirements in subsection 62-371303.420(6), F.A.C. Data must meet the data 378requirements of subsections and paragraphs 38362-303.320(2), 384(3), (4)(e)-(4)(g), (8), and (9), F.A.C. 390S391amples collected on different days will be assessed as individual samples 402and samples collected on the same day shall be averaged; 412or

    413(b) There are one or more exceedances of a bacteriological water quality criterion expressed as a monthly geometric mean during the verified period. 436Data must meet the 440requirements of subsections and paragraphs 44562-303.320(2), 446(3), (4)(e)-(4)(g), (8), and (9), F.A.C. 452S453amples collected on different days will be assessed as individual samples 464and samples collected on the same day shall be averaged474. 475To assess the monthly data for a sampling location, there shall be at least ten samples collected within that month, with at least one sample from each full week of the month.

    507(4) When assessing waters pursuant to paragraphs 51462-303.460(3)(a) 515and (b), F.A.C., the Department shall evaluate whether the samples are representative and are not biased toward collecting samples at times either under the influence of wet weather conditions or absent the influence of wet weather conditions. Representative sampling generally reflects a consistent number of samples evenly spaced over regular intervals. Any determinations to exclude waters based on this provision shall be documented, and the documentation shall include the basis for the decision.

    588Rulemaking Authority 590403.061, 591403.067 FS. 593Law Implemented 595403.062, 596403.067 FS. 598History–New 6-10-02, Amended 12-11-06, 9-4-07, 8-1-13, 2-17-16.

     

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