HB 1415

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the West-Central Florida Water
3	Restoration Action Plan; creating s. 373.0363, F.S.;
4	providing definitions; providing legislative findings
5	and intent; requiring that the Southwest Florida Water
6	Management District implement the West-Central Florida
7	Water Restoration Action Plan; providing criteria
8	governing the implementation of the plan; requiring that
9	the district coordinate with regional water supply
10	authorities and governmental partners to maximize
11	opportunities concerning the efficient expenditure of
12	public funds; specifying the plan's purpose; specifying
13	the initiatives that are included in the plan; providing
14	criteria governing implementation of the Central West
15	Coast Surface Water Enhancement Initiative, the
16	Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems
17	Initiative, the Ridge Lakes Restoration Initiative, the
18	Upper Peace River Watershed Restoration Initiative, and
19	the Central Florida Water Resource Development
20	Initiative and certain components or projects included
21	in such initiatives; providing for the district to
22	implement certain initiatives or parts thereof in
23	cooperation with the Peace River-Manasota Regional Water
24	Supply Authority, the Department of Agriculture and
25	Consumer Services, or Polk County; requiring an annual
26	report that meets specified criteria concerning
27	implementation of the plan, regional conditions, and the
28	use of funds; providing an effective date.
29
30	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
31
32	Section 1.  Section 373.0363, Florida Statutes, is created
33	to read:
34	373.0363  West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action
35	Plan.--
36	(1)  As used in this section, the term:
37	(a)  "District" means the Southwest Florida Water
38	Management District.
39	(b)  "Southern Water Use Caution Area" means an area that
40	the district designated, after extensive collection of data and
41	numerous studies, in order to comprehensively manage water
42	resources in the Southern West-Central Groundwater Basin, which
43	includes all of Desoto, Hardee, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties,
44	and parts of Charlotte, Highlands, Hillsborough, and Polk
45	Counties.
46	(c)  "Southern Water Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy"
47	means the district's regulatory, planning, and financial
48	strategy for ensuring that adequate water supplies are available
49	to meet growing demands while protecting and restoring the water
50	and related natural resources of the area.
51	(d)  "West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan"
52	means the district's regional environmental restoration and
53	water resource sustainability program for the Southern Water Use
54	Caution Area.
55	(2)  The Legislature finds that:
56	(a)  In response to growing demands from public supply,
57	agriculture, mining, power generation, and recreational users,
58	groundwater withdrawals in the Southern Water Use Caution Area
59	have steadily increased for nearly a century before peaking in
60	the middle of the 1970s. These withdrawals resulted in declines
61	in aquifer levels throughout the groundwater basin, which in
62	some areas exceeded 50 feet.
63	(b)  While groundwater withdrawals have since stabilized as
64	a result of the district's management efforts, depressed aquifer
65	levels continue to result in saltwater intrusion, reduced flows
66	in the Upper Peace River, and lowered water levels and water
67	quality impacts for some lakes in the Lake Wales Ridge areas of
68	Polk and Highlands Counties.
69	(c)  In response to these resource concerns, and as
70	directed by s. 373.036, the district determined that traditional
71	sources of water in the region are not adequate to supply water
72	for all existing and projected reasonable-beneficial uses and to
73	sustain the water resources and related natural systems.
74	(d)  The expeditious implementation of the Southern Water
75	Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy is needed to meet the minimum
76	flow requirement for the Upper Peace River, slow saltwater
77	intrusion, provide for improved lake levels and water quality
78	along the Lake Wales Ridge, and ensure sufficient water supplies
79	for all existing and projected reasonable and beneficial uses.
80	(e)  Sufficient research has been conducted and sufficient
81	plans developed to immediately expand and accelerate programs to
82	sustain the water resources and related natural systems in the
83	Southern Water Use Caution Area.
84	(f)  Implementation of components of the Southern Water Use
85	Caution Area Recovery Strategy, which are contained in the West-
86	Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan, is for the
87	benefit of the public health, safety, and welfare and is in the
88	public interest.
89	(g)  Implementation of the West-Central Florida Water
90	Restoration Action Plan is necessary to meet the minimum flow
91	requirement for the Upper Peace River, slow saltwater intrusion,
92	provide for improved lake levels and water quality along the
93	Lake Wales Ridge, and ensure sufficient water supplies for all
94	existing and projected reasonable and beneficial uses.
95	(h)  A continuing source of funding is needed to
96	effectively implement the West-Central Florida Water Restoration
97	Action Plan.
98	(3)  The district shall implement the West-Central Florida
99	Water Restoration Action Plan pursuant to subsection (4). The
100	plan shall be implemented in a manner that furthers progressive
101	strategies for the management of water resources, is watershed-
102	based, provides for consideration of water quality issues, and
103	includes monitoring, the development and implementation of best-
104	management practices, and structural and nonstructural projects,
105	including public works projects. The district shall coordinate
106	its implementation of the plan with regional water supply
107	authorities, public and private partnerships, and local, state,
108	and federal partners in order to maximize opportunities for the
109	most efficient and timely expenditures of public funds.
110	(4)  The West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan
111	includes:
112	(a)  The Central West Coast Surface Water Enhancement
113	Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to make available
114	additional surface waters for public supply through restoration
115	of surface waters, natural water flows, and freshwater wetland
116	communities. This initiative is designed to allow ground water
117	withdrawals to be limited in order to slow the rate of saltwater
118	intrusion. The initiative shall be an ongoing program in
119	cooperation with the Peace River-Manasota Regional Water Supply
120	Authority created under s. 373.1962. The initiative shall
121	include the following components if determined feasible:
122	1.  The Dona Bay-Cow Pen Slough Component. This component
123	is anticipated to increase the capacity to store excess
124	freshwater flows for the purposes of supplying potable water and
125	restoring wetland ecosystems, including the quality and clarity
126	of water in the system and the subsequent rejuvenation of the
127	system's mollusks, oyster beds, seagrasses, and salinity.
128	2.  The Shell Creek Watershed Component. This component is
129	anticipated to increase water storage capacity upstream,
130	redirecting stored water to its natural and historical flow
131	pattern resulting in a benefit to the downstream ecosystem, and
132	capturing high flows for use as public supply during low flow
133	periods.
134	3.  The Upper Myakka River-Flatford Swamp Component. This
135	component is anticipated to reduce the amount of water entering
136	the swamp so that normal hydroperiods are restored, to create a
137	historically more natural system and the opportunity to increase
138	the availability of water for public supply.
139	(b)  The Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management
140	Systems Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to
141	expedite the implementation of production-scale, best-management
142	practices in the agricultural sector which benefit water
143	resources by reducing withdrawals from the Floridan aquifer,
144	improving the quality of ground and surface waters, and
145	conserving and restoring water resources and natural systems.
146	(c)  The Ridge Lakes Restoration Initiative. The purpose of
147	this initiative is to protect, restore, and enhance natural
148	systems and flood protection by improving and protecting the
149	water quality of approximately 130 lakes located along the Lake
150	Wales Ridge in Polk and Highlands Counties, which quality is
151	threatened by stormwater runoff, wastewater effluent, fertilizer
152	applications, groundwater pollution, degradation of shoreline
153	habitats, and hydrologic alterations. This initiative shall be
154	accomplished through the construction of systems designed to
155	treat the stormwater runoff that threatens the water quality of
156	such lakes. Such systems include swales, retention basins, and
157	long infiltration basins, if feasible.
158	(d)  The Upper Peace River Watershed Restoration
159	Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to improve the
160	quality of waters and ecosystems in the watershed of the Upper
161	Peace River by recharging aquifers, restoring the flow of
162	surface waters, and restoring the capacity of natural systems to
163	store surface waters. The Legislature finds that such
164	improvements are necessary because the quantity and quality of
165	the fresh water that flows to the basin of the Peace River and
166	Charlotte Harbor are adversely affected by the significant
167	alteration and degradation of the watershed of the Upper Peace
168	River, and because restoration of the watershed of the Upper
169	Peace River is a critical component of Charlotte Harbor National
170	Estuary Program's Comprehensive Conservation and Management
171	Plan, the Southwest Florida Water Management District Surface
172	Water Improvement and Management Plan, and the Southern Water
173	Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy. This initiative shall
174	include an Upper Peace River Component. In addition to the
175	initiative's other purposes, this component will provide a
176	critical link to a major greenway that extends from the lower
177	southwest coast of this state through the watershed of the Peace
178	River and the Green Swamp and further north to the Ocala
179	National Forest. Projects that are included in the Upper Peace
180	River Component include:
181	1.  The Lake Hancock Component. The purpose of this
182	component is to help meet the minimum flow requirements in the
183	Upper Peace River and to improve water quality. The component
184	shall include Lake Hancock elevation control structure
185	modifications and lake outfall treatment.
186	2.  The Peace Creek Canal Restoration Project. The purpose
187	of this project is to enhance the recharge of aquifers, restore
188	the capacity of natural systems to store storage waters, and
189	provide flood protection. The project shall be implemented by
190	undertaking the actions needed to meet the minimum-flow
191	requirements under s. 373.042 and thereafter holding excess
192	surface water from the Peace Creek Canal in storage for public
193	supply, or commercial or industrial water users.
194	(e)  The Central Florida Water Resource Development
195	Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to create and
196	implement a long-term plan that takes a comprehensive approach
197	to limit ground water withdrawals in the Southern Water Use
198	Caution Area, which includes the identification and development
199	of alternative water supplies for Polk County. The initiative
200	shall be implemented by the district as an ongoing program in
201	cooperation with Polk County and the South Florida Water
202	Management District. The initiative shall include:
203	1.  The Kissimmee River Component. This component shall
204	include developing, if feasible, a supply of potable water from
205	surface waters near Lake Kissimmee. This project is intended to
206	increase the amount of water available for meeting public water
207	demands in the Central Florida Coordination Area while not
208	violating the minimum flows and levels adopted for the Kissimmee
209	River.
210	2.  The Upper Peace River Component. This component shall
211	be implemented by investigating the feasibility of using an off-
212	stream reservoir to capture water from the Peace River during
213	high-flow periods, which may include the storage of water on
214	private lands for use as a public water supply.
215	(5)  By March 1 each year, the district shall report on the
216	implementation of this section as part of the consolidated
217	annual report required in s. 373.036(7). Copies of the report,
218	including proposed legislative recommendations, shall be
219	submitted to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the
220	House of Representatives. The implementation report must
221	include, at a minimum:
222	(a)  A summary of the conditions of the Southern Water Use
223	Caution Area, including the status of the West-Central Florida
224	Water Restoration Action Plan components.
225	(b)  An annual accounting of the expenditure of funds. The
226	accounting must, at a minimum, provide details of expenditures
227	separately by plan component and any subparts of a plan
228	component, and include specific information about amount and use
229	of funds from federal, state, or local government sources. In
230	detailing the use of these funds, the district shall indicate
231	those designated to meet requirements for matching funds.
232	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2008.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.