Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces more clean water legislation

Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday announced more ways to protect Florida's waterways.

At a news conference in Jupiter, he introduced legislation that if approved next spring will make more strides to preventing algae blooms and pollution from fouling the state's nearly 32,000 lakes and 1,700 rivers and streams.

According to the governor's announcement, the legislation would address:

• Wastewater discharges from municipalities.
• Create new rules for spreading of biosolids.
• Change oversight and inspection of septic tanks from Department of Health to the Department of Environmental Protection.
• Clarify and sharpen oversight of best management practices for agricultural producers.
• Stormwater system runoff to reduce and eliminate pollutants from being carried downstream into waterways 

DeSantis said the purpose of these new regulations was to:

• Make substantial improvements in water quality across the state.
• Ensure these policies were "informed by science."
• Act on recommendations released last week by the Blue-Green Algae Task Force, an advisory panel created by the governor.

"The more we can do to get ahead of this stuff," DeSantis said, "the better off we're going to be in Florida."

The governor will pursue this legislation during the 2020 legislative session.

Wastewater discharges

DeSantis said in the years 2017-18, there were over 320 million gallons of sewer overflows into waterways near Miami, Tampa and the Indian River Lagoon.

"This is not something that is acceptable," he said.

The legislation would require utilities to develop a plan to inspect, maintain and repair infrastructure of these wastewater plants. The current law, he said, allows DEP to intervene only after a sewage spill has occurred. The new law gets the DEP involved "on the front end," he said, overseeing inspections to prevent discharges.

Biosolids

DeSantis said the application of biosolids used as fertilizers needs to be more closely regulated. The new legislation calls for application only on lands high and dry enough to prevent seeping into any waterways.

More:Riverkeeper: Biosolids bill goes from 'great' to 'worse'

Septic tanks

DeSantis said 2.6 million septic tanks in Florida — 10% of the entire nation's inventory— and their inspections fall under the Department of Health to consider human health impacts. But the new legislation would shift that responsibility to DEP so impacts to environmental resources can be accounted for as well. The legislation also adds to the Basin Management Action Plans septic tank removal plans.

More:Blue-Green Algae Task Force addresses agriculture

Agricultural runoff

The legislation requires the DEP to coordinate with top academic institutions to send the most updated research to the Department of Agriculture when it comes to runoff from agricultural lands. Best Management Practices would be evaluated every two years and will track agricultural products and ensure producers are enrolled and engaged in using BMPs.

Stormwater systems

DeSantis said stormwater systems are guarding against flooding, as they should, but more needs to be done to ensure they do not carry pollutants into waterways using up-to-date science.

The governor's announcement at the Loxahatchee River District was well-received by environmental advocacy groups such as the Everglades Foundation. 

"Today, the governor made it clear that the days of the status quo are no longer," said Erik Eikenberg, executive director of the Everglades Foundation. "This continues on the promises he laid out less than 48 hours after taking the oath of office to protect Florida."

The speed at which DeSantis has worked to protect and clean Florida's waterways is also encouraging, he said.

"We've had more environmental announcements and raising the awareness to our environmental issues in the past nine months than we have in the last decade," Eikenberg said. "We've known all along what the issues are, but what we have long yearned for is leadership."

Some environmental advocacy groups said the legislation fell short on several points.

“Gov. DeSantis’ proposal is an encouraging start for addressing Florida’s water crisis, but we hope it doesn’t stop there,” said Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “To effectively protect our health and wildlife the state must immediately establish water quality standards for the highly toxic cyanobacteria algal blooms. We must expedite efforts to get harmful phosphorous pollution under control in Lake Okeechobee, now not later. And we must immediately investigate the roles phosphate mines, factories and phosphogypsum stacks play in causing our water quality crisis.”

David Guest, a longtime environmental litigator, took exception with the biosolids measures.

“The governor's proposal misses one of the fastest and cheapest ways of reducing toxic algae outbreaks — prohibiting disposal of human fecal matter by dumping it on open farm land,” Guest said. “That practice is a major contributor to toxic algae outbreaks throughout Florida and should be simply banned.”

Allie Preston of Bullsugar.org said the governor's legislation should have included more to safeguard Florida residents and visitors from human health concerns caused by state waters.

"Twenty-two states have harmful algal bloom warning statutes, but not Florida," Preston said. "Floridians deserve laws that protect our human health, and unfortunately, it does not appear this proposal creates the necessary legal regime for warning citizens about toxic algae.”

Alex Gillen, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, said more is needed with respect to septic tanks.

“A proposal to address the environmental impacts of septic tanks without mandatory septic tank inspections is unquestionably a half-measure” Gillen said.

Others supported the governor's move as a big step in the right direction.

“Addressing nutrient impacts will require actions by all stakeholders in Florida and significant water quality changes can only occur when all stakeholders work together,” said DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein. “This legislation is the foundation for implementing necessary actions by the department, local governments and our regulated community based on the Task Force’s recommendations.”

Clean water means better fishing and a better economy, said Gary Jennings, director of Keep Florida Fishing.

“We are grateful for Gov. DeSantis’ continued commitment to Florida’s environment," Jennings said. “Keep Florida Fishing supports the Blue-Green Algae Task Force’s multi-faceted, science-based approach to improving water quality throughout the state. We look forward to working with the Governor, Legislature and relevant state agencies to address these issues and move these proposals forward. Water quality is critical for maintaining fish habitat and healthy fish populations, which are so important to Florida’s $11.5 billion sportfishing industry and more than 4 million anglers.”

Ed Killer is TCPalm's outdoors writer. Friend him on Facebook at Ed Killer, follow him on Twitter @tcpalmekiller or email him at ed.killer@tcpalm.com.