FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Apr. 14, 2014
DEP CONCLUDES PUBLIC MEETINGS SOLICITING INPUT ON WATER RESTORATION PRIORITIES
~Meetings garner public comment on water quality
restoration goals and plans~
TALLAHASSEE –The
Florida Department of Environmental Protection recently concluded a series of
public meetings throughout the state to present information and receive input
on the future priorities of water restoration. The Department has held
six public meetings in the past month to invite public comment in Live Oak,
West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Pensacola, Orlando and Bartow.
At each meeting, the Department’s Division of Environmental
Assessment and Restoration staff explained the assessment and restoration
cycle, presented the 2014 strategic monitoring plan as well as the preliminary
2-year work plan for establishing restoration
goals.
"Each year, the Department must determine how
to employ our resources most effectively to address water quality restoration,”
said Tom Frick, Director of DEP’s Division of Environmental Assessment and
Restoration. “Our programs achieve the greatest success when we have stakeholder engagement
and we are committed to taking advantage of local perspectives and priorities
to better inform our work plans.”
Through the public meetings the Department received a range
of commentary from the Water Management Districts, city and county governments,
environmental groups, and local residents and business owners.
Florida contains more than 17,000 square miles of water, of
which approximately 40 percent are inland waters. Florida is third in the
country for inland water area and relies on these water bodies as an economic
and recreational resource. To protect and rehabilitate Florida’s water bodies, the
Department facilitates a continuous cycle of assessment and restoration.
The Department is charged with collecting water quality data, through both its
own monitoring programs and in collaboration with other agencies and monitoring
groups. The Department assesses this data against state standards and
determines which bodies of water are considered impaired. To correct these
impaired waters, the agency develops and adopts scientifically-based
restoration goals. These goals set limits to the amount of pollutants that may
be present in a water body if the water body is to be considered healthy. In
order to meet these restoration goals, the Department facilitates the
development by local stakeholders of broad-based restoration plans to achieve
reductions in pollutant loading.
DEP is currently finalizing its water restoration plans both
in response to the commentary and through coordination with local entities that
provide water quality and biological data to the agency. The final strategic
monitoring plans will be placed on the Watershed Assessment Section’s page
and the final plans are posted here.
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