The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (Department) is working statewide to encourage local stakeholders to develop plans at the earliest practical time to restore waters not meeting state water quality standards. Early implementation of restoration activities is more cost effective, and may allow the Department to forgo certain regulatory steps (most notably, the development of total maximum daily loads [TMDLs] and basin management action plans [BMAPs]), thereby focusing limited local and state resources directly on measures that will improve water quality.
The Impaired Waters Rule (IWR) authorizes two types of restoration plans that delay placement of a waterbody on the Verified List; therefore, the optimal time to propose or submit one of these is during the assessment cycle and/or prior to TMDL development. Category 4b and 4e restoration plans are established in a streamlined manner compared to the process leading to BMAPs and are an alternative to the typical regulatory steps by the department as they focus limited resources on restoring the identified impairment.
The primary purpose of this survey is to help stakeholders identify waterbodies that could be candidates for alternative restoration plans and determining whether they may need support to develop key components of these plans necessary for success. It is important to answer the questions to the best of your ability so that the suggested path to restoration is as accurate as possible.
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