HB 1005 2003
   
1 CHAMBER ACTION
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6          The Committee on Natural Resources recommends the following:
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8          Committee Substitute
9          Remove the entire bill and insert:
10 A bill to be entitled
11          An act relating to water resources; amending s. 373.223,
12    F.S.; revising provisions relating to water reservations;
13    defining "independent scientific peer review"; providing
14    for selection and duties of an independent scientific peer
15    review panel; providing for a report; providing for
16    applicability; providing exceptions; providing for rules;
17    providing for administrative hearings; providing for a
18    water recovery or prevention plan and for implementation
19    thereof; amending s. 373.250, F.S.; authorizing water
20    management districts to require use of uncommitted
21    reclaimed water under certain circumstances and with
22    certain limitations; amending s. 403.064, F.S.; requiring
23    that the conclusions of a reuse feasibility study be
24    considered in analyzing the feasibility of providing
25    reclaimed water for reuse; providing an effective date.
26         
27          Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
28         
29          Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 373.223, Florida
30    Statutes, is amended to read:
31          373.223 Conditions for a permit.--
32          (4)(a) The governing board or the department, by rule
33    regulation, may reserve from use by permit applicants,water in
34    such locations and quantities, and for such seasons of the year,
35    as in its judgment may be required for the protection of fish
36    and wildlife or the public health and safety. Such reservations
37    shall be subject to periodic review and revision at least every
38    5 years, in conjunction with the district's review of regional
39    water supply plans in the light of changed conditions, and
40    revised if necessary. However, all presently existing legal uses
41    of water shall be protected so long as such use is not contrary
42    to the public interest.
43          (b) By July 1, 2004, or the next required update to the
44    applicable water management district’s regional water supply
45    plan, whichever occurs first, and at least every 5 years
46    thereafter, each water management district that intends to
47    establish water reservations shall set forth in its regional
48    water supply plan approved pursuant to s. 373.0361 a priority
49    list and schedule for the establishment of its proposed
50    reservations, as well as an explanation of the reasons and
51    conditions supporting the need for those reservations. The
52    priority list and schedule shall also identify those
53    reservations for which the district will voluntarily undertake
54    independent scientific peer review. However, nothing in this
55    subsection shall preclude a water management district from
56    adopting a rule establishing a water reservation for a water
57    body or an area not shown on the priority list or schedule.
58          (c) Upon written request to the department or the
59    governing board by a substantially affected person, or by
60    decision of the department or the governing board, prior to the
61    establishment of a reservation of water and prior to the filing
62    of any petition for an administrative hearing related to a
63    reservation of water, all scientific or technical data,
64    methodologies, and models, including all scientific and
65    technical assumptions employed in each model, used to establish
66    the water reservation shall be subject to independent scientific
67    peer review. "Independent scientific peer review" means a review
68    by a panel of independent, recognized experts in the fields of
69    hydrology, hydrogeology, limnology, biology, and other
70    scientific disciplines, to the extent relevant to the
71    establishment of the reservation.
72          (d) If independent scientific peer review is requested, it
73    shall be initiated at an appropriate point agreed upon by the
74    department or the governing board and the person or persons
75    requesting the peer review. If no agreement is reached, the
76    department or the governing board shall determine the
77    appropriate point at which to initiate the peer review. The
78    members of the peer review panel shall be selected within 60
79    days after the point of initiation by agreement of the
80    department or the governing board and the person or persons
81    requesting the peer review. If the peer review panel is not
82    selected within the 60-day period, the time limitation may be
83    waived upon the agreement of all parties. If no waiver occurs,
84    the department or the governing board may proceed to select the
85    peer review panel. The cost of the peer review shall be borne
86    equally by the district and each party requesting the peer
87    review to the extent economically feasible. The peer review
88    panel shall submit a final report to the governing board within
89    120 days after its selection unless the deadline is waived by
90    agreement of all parties. Initiation of the peer review pursuant
91    to this paragraph shall toll any applicable deadline under
92    chapter 120 or any other law or district rule regarding
93    permitting, rulemaking, or administrative hearings, until 60
94    days following submittal of the peer review panel’s final
95    report. Any such deadlines shall also be tolled for 60 days
96    following withdrawal of the request or following agreement of
97    the parties that the peer review will no longer be pursued. The
98    department or the governing board shall give significant weight
99    to the final report of the peer review panel when establishing
100    the water reservation.
101          (e) If the final data, methodologies, and models,
102    including all scientific and technical assumptions employed in
103    each model upon which a water reservation is based, have
104    undergone the peer review pursuant to this subsection, by
105    request or by decision of the department or the governing board,
106    no further peer review shall be required with respect to that
107    water reservation.
108          (f) No reservation of water adopted by rule or formally
109    noticed for adoption on or before July 1, 2003, shall be subject
110    to this subsection.
111          (g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to
112    the contrary, to assist in implementing the comprehensive plan
113    as defined in s. 373.470(2)(a) and achieving the purposes
114    identified in s. 373.470(3)(b), the governing board of the South
115    Florida Water Management District, upon completion of a project
116    implementation report as required by s. 373.470(3)(c) and the
117    approval of said report pursuant to s. 373.026(8)(b), may by
118    rule reserve water for the natural system and determine regional
119    water availability for other uses to be made available by the
120    project component. The rule shall state when the quantities are
121    anticipated to become available and how the reserved water and
122    quantities of water for other uses will be adjusted if the
123    actual water made available is different than the quantity
124    anticipated. Once a project component is constructed and in
125    operation, the reservation and quantities of water made
126    available for other uses shall be reviewed and modified, as
127    necessary, based upon the performance of the project component.
128          (h) If a petition for administrative hearing is filed
129    under chapter 120 challenging the establishment of the
130    reservation of water, the report of an independent scientific
131    peer review conducted under this subsection is admissible as
132    evidence in the final hearing. To the extent that the parties
133    agree to the findings of the peer review, they may stipulate
134    that those findings shall be incorporated as findings of fact in
135    the final order.
136          (i) If the department or the governing board determines
137    after adoption of the reservation of water by rule that the
138    water needed for the reservation is already allocated to
139    existing legal users, or that there is otherwise inadequate
140    water to meet the reservation and the demands of existing legal
141    uses and projected uses determined pursuant to the analysis
142    required by s. 373.0361, then the department or the governing
143    board, as part of a regional water supply plan described in s.
144    373.0361, shall expeditiously implement a water recovery or
145    prevention plan that shall include the development of additional
146    water supplies and other actions, consistent with the authority
147    granted by this chapter, to:
148          1. Provide water needed for the reservation; or
149          2. Develop new or additional water sources to meet the
150    needs of existing legal uses and projected uses that may be
151    affected by the reservation.
152         
153          This recovery plan shall include phasing or a timetable for
154    implementing the reservation that will allow for the provision
155    of sufficient water supplies for all existing and projected
156    reasonable-beneficial uses, including development of additional
157    water supplies and implementation of conservation and other
158    efficiency measures.
159          Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 373.250, Florida
160    Statutes, is amended to read:
161          373.250 Reuse of reclaimed water.--
162          (2)(a) For purposes of this section, "uncommitted" means
163    the average amount of reclaimed water produced during the three
164    lowest-flow months minus the amount of reclaimed water that a
165    reclaimed water provider is contractually obligated to provide
166    to a customer or user.
167          (b) Reclaimed water may be presumed available to a
168    consumptive use permit applicant when a utility exists which
169    provides reclaimed water, which has uncommitted reclaimed water
170    capacity, and which has distribution facilities, which are
171    initially provided by the utility at its cost, to the site of
172    the affected applicant's proposed use.
173          (c) A water management district may require the use of
174    uncommitted reclaimed water in lieu of surface water or
175    groundwater when the use of reclaimed water is environmentally,
176    economically, and technically feasible. However, nothing in this
177    paragraph shall be construed to give a water management district
178    the authority to require a provider of reclaimed water to
179    redirect reclaimed water from one user to another or to provide
180    uncommitted water to a specific user if such water is
181    anticipated to be used by the provider, or a different user
182    selected by the provider, within a reasonable amount of time.
183          Section 3. Subsection (6) of section 403.064, Florida
184    Statutes, is amended to read:
185          403.064 Reuse of reclaimed water.--
186          (6) A reuse feasibility study prepared under subsection
187    (2) satisfies a water management district requirement to conduct
188    a reuse feasibility study imposed on a local government or
189    utility that has responsibility for wastewater management, and
190    the conclusions of the reuse feasibility study shall be given
191    significant consideration in an analysis of the feasibility of
192    providing reclaimed water for reuse under part II of chapter
193    373.
194          Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.