Clean water is an important American value, but many water bodies in Florida are polluted. The government has set limits on how much pollution can be released into these bodies of water, and they’re using action plans to allocate these limits fairly among polluters. So far, 19 action plans have been adopted, and more are on the way. The big question is, will these plans actually make a difference and clean up Florida’s polluted waters? A Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) is a program in Florida that aims to reduce pollution in water bodies. This program sets limits on the amount of pollutants that can be discharged into the water, both from point sources like factories and from nonpoint sources like runoff from the land. The goal is to improve the water quality and meet certain standards for pollutants. The BMAPs also include strategies like best management practices for nonpoint discharges and projects to reduce pollution in the area. These plans are developed and enforced by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in Florida. A BMAP is a plan to clean up polluted water bodies in Florida. The plan identifies how much pollution the water can handle and how much needs to be reduced. It also divides up the pollution reduction between different sources, like factories and farms. For example, the Upper Ocklawaha River BMAP in central Florida addresses the problem of too much phosphorus in the water. The plan sets a limit on how much phosphorus the water can have, and then figures out how to reduce the extra phosphorus, like from a wastewater treatment facility and other nonpoint sources. In the Phase II of the BMAP process, the DEP will figure out if specific amounts of pollutants should be allocated to individual sources to reduce pollution in specific water bodies. The BMAP also lists management strategies to reduce pollution, but they are kind of vague. The plan mainly relies on big restoration projects funded by the government to clean up the water. These projects can allow existing polluters to release more pollutants into the water. Chapter three of the Phase II UOR BMAP talks about how they plan to enforce the management strategies to improve water quality in the area. They mention two main regulatory links: the Environmental Resource Permitting (ERP) program and Floridaâs National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program. These programs regulate activities that could affect water quality. The BMAP doesnât provide much detail on how they will make sure ERP applicants are improving water quality or if there are other unpermitted activities that should be regulated. The NPDES program regulates wastewater and stormwater discharges in the area, and they have some wastewater facilities that are regulated, but there are also 18 municipalities that need to be regulated for their stormwater discharges. The BMAP for the Upper Ocklawaha River Basin addresses how to reduce pollutants in the water. It focuses on nonpoint sources of pollution, like stormwater runoff from municipalities and agricultural operations. There are some nonpoint sources that are not regulated by NPDES permits, and the BMAP says they should try to reduce pollutants too. The BMAP also talks about how agricultural runoff needs to follow certain rules to reduce pollution. But, the BMAP warns that it might take a long time to see improvements in water quality. The BMAPs need to improve in three main areas. First, they should make sure all dischargers are following water quality protection programs. Second, the BMAPs should be written as enforceable orders with specific deadlines and consequences for not following them. Third, they need to better address agricultural discharges, which are the biggest source of water pollution. It’s important to make sure everyone is following the rules and to hold them accountable if they don’t. The BMAPs were meant to be orders that can be enforced, but they currently don’t have clear language making them enforceable. Most of the final orders adopting BMAPs don’t say they can be enforced, but a few do. However, even the ones that do have enforcement language are still hard to enforce because the management strategies in the BMAPs are more like guidelines than strict rules. So right now, the BMAPs are mostly just helpful suggestions for how to restore impaired waters, rather than strict orders that can be enforced. Agricultural pollution is a big problem for water quality, and the government is trying to address it. The Department of Agriculture has a program to help farmers reduce water pollution, but it’s a big job because there are so many farms. Even if all the farms follow the rules, it might not be enough to fix the pollution. The government needs to come up with better plans to deal with this problem, and farmers who don’t follow the rules will get in trouble with the government. The BMAPs need to clearly explain the responsibilities of farmers when it comes to water quality standards. Right now, the BMAPs say that farmers are assumed to be following the law if they use approved BMPs or monitor water quality. However, this doesn’t apply if the DEP or a water management district requires compliance with water quality standards in another program. For example, if a farm needs an ERP, they have to meet the ERP water quality requirements, and the presumption of water quality compliance doesn’t apply. The same goes for rules like the phosphorus concentration discharge limits in the Lake Okeechobee watershed. So, farmers need to make sure they’re following all the different water quality rules, even if they’re using approved BMPs or monitoring water quality. In Florida, the Department of Environmental Protection has a program to measure and reduce pollution in impaired waters. They use plans called BMAPs to do this, but these plans need more power to be effective. Right now, itâs not clear when the impaired waters will be restored. This passage discusses different strategies and laws related to environmental protection in Florida. It also mentions a lawyer who specializes in environmental law. The main point is to educate people about environmental and administrative law in Florida.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/will-basin-management-action-plans-restore-floridas-impaired-waters/
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