FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 20, 2012
DEP SETS RESTORATION GOALS, PROVIDES FUNDING FOR SILVER SPRINGS, KINGS BAY SPRINGSHED
~Department continues its efforts to restore and fund projects for Florida's iconic springs~
TALLAHASSEE- The Florida Department of Environmental
Protection is expanding its efforts to restore Silver Springs and Kings Bay by
finalizing restoration goals and committing $2.5 million to water quality
improvement projects.
“In the last two years, with support from Governor Scott,
Senator Charlie Dean and the rest of the Florida Legislature, we will have
directed $11.5 million to restoring Florida’s springs - more than double the
spending in the previous three years,” said Florida Department of Environmental
Protection Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr.
Department research and monitoring led to
designating Silver Springs and the Upper Silver River as impaired for nitrates,
a form of nutrients that can cause serious algae problems. The
Department is now finalizing the Total Maximum Daily Load or, in this
case, the maximum acceptable concentration of nitrates, at 0.35 milligrams per
liter. This is the same restoration target that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has adopted for
springs -- based on the Department’s data -- and that has been upheld in both state and federal courts. Meeting the restoration target will protect aquatic
life and bring the system back into balance.
A
formal management plan to reduce nitrate inputs to meet the total maximum daily load will be
developed. Local involvement will be key to identifying the specific actions
that area stakeholders will implement to reduce nitrate inputs into the system,
along with a schedule for carrying them out.
"Cooperation and partnerships
between DEP, the Legislature and public and private stakeholders is the only
way our springs will be restored," said Senator Charlie Dean. "I appreciate the Department’s efforts as they
continue to spend money allocated by the Legislature on meaningful projects to
restore our springs."
The Department is not waiting on completion of the
management plan to act, however. In July, the Department announced a $1 million investment in
wastewater projects identified in concert with Marion County and the St. Johns
River Water Management District as critical to restoring area water
quality.
The first project will redirect the current discharge from the
Silver Springs Regional-Wastewater Treatment Plant, only 1.5 miles from the
main boil of Silver Springs, to the Silver Springs Shores Wastewater Treatment
Plant, 10 miles from the boil. It will also connect a series of small “package”
wastewater treatment plants to the central facility, which will provide better
treatment. Implementation of these actions will eliminate more than two tons of
nitrates currently going into the Silver Springs
system every year.
The Department will invest another $400,000 to take Silver River State Park off septic tanks and hook it to central sewer, reducing nitrates in
Silver River and Silver Springs by another 1,370
pounds annually.
“Florida is a national leader in water quality assessment and
restoration, and we are aggressively attacking pollution in Florida’s fabled
springs,” said Drew Bartlett, Director of DEP’s Division of Environmental
Assessment and Restoration. “DEP uses the best science available to identify
water quality problems and works with local leaders to solve them.”
On
another front, to improve King’s Bay, the Department is committing more than
$1.1 million to a reuse project for the city of Crystal River. This ongoing
project, jointly funded with the Southwest Florida Water Management District
and the city, will send 750,000 gallons of reclaimed water from the Crystal
River wastewater treatment plant to the Progress Energy Citrus County Power
Complex. It will reduce wastewater nutrient loading to the local springshed by
16 percent and increase spring flow in Kings Bay by reducing the need for groundwater
pumping at the power complex.
The Department will soon establish nutrient reduction requirements for the Rainbow,
Jackson Blue and Weeki Wachee springs systems. Earlier this year, the agency
adopted a water quality restoration plan for the spring fed Santa Fe River and
is on track to adopt a similar restoration plan for the Wekiva Basin. The
Department is also kicking off restoration plans for Wakulla Springs and
multiple springs along the Suwannee River this year. The objective is to speed
up the pace of restoration, tackling problems with clear solutions immediately
and developing plans with local stakeholders to solve longer term goals.
|