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Water Quality Primer

Well-Water Protection

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— Water Management  —

Water supply and water allocation have emerged as the most pressing issues for the late 1990s and the future.  In some areas of the state, demands for water are beginning to exceed the capacity of aquifers and surface water to meet the demands without significant harm to natural systems. The effects of groundwater over withdrawals (such as saltwater intrusion into municipal water supplies and lowered lake levels) are becoming more common. For some areas, the prospects for new, easily developed, clean sources of water no longer exist. Adequate sources can be developed, but usually at higher costs than in the past.   These increasing water scarcity problems are compounded by the continuing risk that existing and potential new supplies may experience contamination from a variety of sources.

The Florida Water Resources Act gives the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) "general supervisory authority" over the state's five water management districts (WMD) and directs the Department to delegate water resources programs to them where possible.

The districts are authorized to administer flood protection programs and to perform technical investigations into water resources. The districts are also authorized to develop water management plans for water shortages in times of drought and to acquire and manage lands for water management purposes under the Save Our Rivers program. Regulatory programs delegated to the districts include programs to manage the consumptive use of water, aquifer recharge, well construction and surface water management.
 

In 1972 the Florida Water Resources Act (Chapter 373 of the Florida Statutes) was passed. It combined aspects of eastern and western United States water law into a comprehensive new Florida water law which provides the basic water management framework for the state.  It created the regional water management districts and established a permit system regulating consumptive use of water.  The law also required each water management district to establish minimum flows and levels of surface waters and minimum levels for groundwater.

The two primary laws affecting pollution control and water quality are the Water Quality Act and the Clean Water Act which were passed in 1965 and 1972 respectively.  These federal laws required states to classify their waters according to their present and future most beneficial uses, and to establish water quality standards and criteria that would protect those uses. The classifications were to take into consideration the use and value of the waters for public supply, propagation of fish and wildlife, recreation, agriculture, industry, and navigation.

In response to the federal Water Quality Act, as well as growing citizen concern, the Florida Air and Water Pollution Control Act was passed in 1967.  This act remains the keystone of Florida's pollution control efforts and has been expanded to provide greater protection.

An ecosystem or holistic approach to water management requires an understanding of the interrelationships of the biological, chemical and physical properties of an aquatic ecosystem.

The Florida Environmental Reorganization Act of 1993 required the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)  to "protect the functions of entire ecological systems through enhanced coordination of public land acquisition, regulatory and planning programs".  Such an ecosystem management approach means that DEP will reorient its programs along ecosystem rather than political or administrative boundaries.

Definitely!  As the Florida Water Plan states, "better information is needed to support water resource protection, restoration and management actions."  (The Plan was prepared jointly by the DEP and the five regional water management districts to implement their statutory water management responsibilities.) Investigations of the occurrence, quantity, quality, distribution, uses, and movement of surface and groundwater add to our understanding of  water resources.

The National Research Program (NRP) conducts basic and problem oriented hydrologic research in support of the mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The NRP is designed to encourage pursuit of a diverse agenda of research topics aimed at providing new knowledge and insights into varied and complex hydrologic processes that are not well understood.

In addition to the generally long-term research studies conducted as part of the centrally-coordinated NRP, the USGS conducts other hydrologic research studies throughout the United States. USGS also provides partial support for the State Water Resources Research Institutes, including management of a competitive grants program as authorized under the 1984 Water Resources Research Act.

Yes, there are a number of groups and programs in Florida that welcome the participation of individuals and groups in environmental monitoring.  Florida LAKEWATCH is once such program. It is a volunteer citizen lake monitoring program that facilitates "hands-on" citizen participation in the management of Florida lakes through monthly monitoring activities.  Coordinated through the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences/Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, LAKEWATCH is now one of the largest lake monitoring programs in the nation with over 1800 trained citizens monitoring 600+ lakes, in more than 40 counties.

Florida LAKEWATCH works directly with citizens who live on (or use) lakes, rivers or waterways and are willing to take samples once a month for a minimum of two years. The information compiled from these samplings are used to create a long-term data base that can serve as documentation of current water chemistry conditions -- to be compared with future water chemistry conditions. LAKEWATCH data also provide much needed information for lake management decisions.

The information generated from this program is made available to anyone who wants it, including the volunteers themselves, interested citizens, lake management groups, schools, as well as government and regulatory agencies. Most of the lakes that are being accepted into the program have never been monitored before.  For more information, go to the LAKEWATCH web site.

To protect and conserve our aquatic environment, and to manage it in ways that will continue to make it available for use by current and future generations.

Research activities are designed to:

• improve the overall understanding of the pathways, rates of movement, chemical processes, and biological processes in the hydrologic cycle;

• improve the overall understanding of the hydraulic, chemical, and biological factors of both natural and human origins that affect the resource;

• provide new strategies for data collection, analysis and interpretation, in the light of new knowledge and evolving scientific capabilities; and

• improve methods of predicting the response of hydrologic systems to stresses, whether hydraulic or chemical, and whether of natural or human origin.