GUEST EDITORIAL: Florida’s water quality job remains undone

Gov. Ron DeSantis will soon sign what the Legislature, in an example of clever marketing, has labeled the “Clean Waterways Act,” Senate Bill 712.

Will he give us straight talk about the limited advances in this legislation or will he take a victory lap?

Legislative leaders deserve credit for a comprehensive approach to our water problems. The 111-page bill addresses agriculture, using biosolids as fertilizer, oversight of septic tanks, wastewater treatment systems, enhanced penalties and other issues.

But comprehensive is not the same as effective. Addressing pollution at its source means that the rules should be as tough for agriculture as on leaking septic tanks and outdated municipal sewage treatment plants.

Legislators claimed that the bill incorporates recommendations of the Blue Green Algae Task Force that Gov. DeSantis created in his first environmental Executive Order. But only some of the Task Force’s recommendations made it into SB 712.

Two examples: While agriculture is substantially responsible for the excess nitrogen and phosphorus in Outstanding Florida Springs watersheds, SB 712 is light on enforcement and too reliant on voluntary best management practices. And mandatory septic tank inspections are not part of SB 712.

Last October, the governor called for legislation to ensure that biosolids (sludge from wastewater treatment plants) would be applied only on land sufficiently above the water table and far enough from surface water to prevent runoff into creeks, canals and water bodies.

An earlier version of SB 712 prohibited spreading biosolids where the water table is less than 6 inches from the biosolids. An amendment changed that to permit its use if an “approved nutrient management plan and water quality monitoring plan provide reasonable assurances” the sludge will not seep into surface or groundwater.

Two sections of SB 712 might have lasting impact: a matching grant program to upgrade septic systems or hook a septic tank to a municipal sewage system, and another grant program to help upgrade outdated municipal sewage treatment plants.

The latter provision is not inconsequential. Think of the trauma of the folks in Fort Lauderdale where — as of February — seven sewer line breaks dumped 211.6 million gallons of sewage into streams and streets, or the folks in Fort Myers where 183,000 gallons — the biggest sewage spill in the city’s history — leaked into waterways due to a power outage at a lift station.

The need for effective policies and enforcement strategies to reverse our state’s water crisis is urgent. The outbreaks of harmful algae blooms and red tide threaten our way of life, and our health.

The $93.2 million budget the Legislature approved pre-COVID-19 likely will need to be revised, and probably downward to cover reduced revenue and emergency expenses to combat the pandemic. The budget includes $650 million for water quality improvements.

Hopefully the governor will be able to protect as much of that as possible for the matching grant programs and for the increased enforcement responsibilities of state agencies.

So, Gov. DeSantis, protect the budget for essential water quality improvements — and tell the Legislature that there is much more to do.

Howard L. Simon is the retired executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. He is now president of the Clean Okeechobee Waters Foundation.