CS/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 the Southwest Florida Water
6	Management District to implement the West-Central
7	Florida Water Restoration Action Plan; providing
8	criteria governing the implementation of the plan;
9	requiring that the district coordinate with regional
10	water supply authorities and governmental partners to
11	maximize opportunities concerning the efficient
12	expenditure of public funds; specifying the plan's
13	purpose; specifying the initiatives that are included in
14	the plan; providing criteria governing implementation of
15	the Central West Coast Surface Water Enhancement
16	Initiative, the Facilitating Agricultural Resource
17	Management Systems Initiative, the Ridge Lakes
18	Restoration Initiative, the Upper Peace River Watershed
19	Restoration Initiative, and the Central Florida Water
20	Resource Development Initiative and certain components
21	or projects included in such initiatives; providing for
22	the district to implement certain initiatives or parts
23	thereof in cooperation with the Peace River-Manasota
24	Regional Water Supply Authority, the Department of
25	Agriculture and Consumer Services, or Polk County;
26	requiring an annual report that meets specified criteria
27	concerning implementation of the plan, regional
28	conditions, and the use of funds; requiring that the
29	Southwest Florida Water Management District prepare the
30	report in cooperation with coordinating agencies and
31	affected local governments and submit a report and
32	legislative proposals to the Governor and Legislature;
33	providing an effective date.
34
35	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
36
37	Section 1.  Section 373.0363, Florida Statutes, is created
38	to read:
39	373.0363  West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action
40	Plan.--
41	(1)  As used in this section, the term:
42	(a)  "Central Florida Coordination Area" means all of Polk,
43	Osceola, Orange, and Seminole Counties, and southern Lake
44	County, as designated by the Southwest Florida Water Management
45	District, the South Florida Water Management District, and the
46	St. Johns River Water Management District.
47	(b)  "District" means the Southwest Florida Water
48	Management District.
49	(c)  "Southern Water Use Caution Area" means an area that
50	the district designated, after extensive collection of data and
51	numerous studies, in order to comprehensively manage water
52	resources in the Southern West-Central Groundwater Basin, which
53	includes all of Desoto, Hardee, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties,
54	and parts of Charlotte, Highlands, Hillsborough, and Polk
55	Counties.
56	(d)  "Southern Water Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy"
57	means the district's regulatory, planning, and financial
58	strategy for ensuring that adequate water supplies are available
59	to meet growing demands while protecting and restoring the water
60	and related natural resources of the area.
61	(e)  "West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan"
62	means the district's regional environmental restoration and
63	water resource sustainability program for the Southern Water Use
64	Caution Area.
65	(2)  The Legislature finds that:
66	(a)  In response to growing demands from public supply,
67	agriculture, mining, power generation, and recreational users,
68	groundwater withdrawals in the Southern Water Use Caution Area
69	have steadily increased for nearly a century before peaking in
70	the mid-1970s. These withdrawals resulted in declines in aquifer
71	levels throughout the groundwater basin, which in some areas
72	exceeded 50 feet.
73	(b)  While groundwater withdrawals have since stabilized as
74	a result of the district's management efforts, depressed aquifer
75	levels continue to result in saltwater intrusion, reduced flows
76	in the Upper Peace River, lowered water levels, and adverse
77	water quality impacts for some lakes in the Lake Wales Ridge
78	areas of Polk and Highlands Counties.
79	(c)  In response to these resource concerns, and as
80	directed by s. 373.036, the district determined that traditional
81	sources of water in the region are not adequate to supply water
82	for all existing and projected reasonable and beneficial uses
83	and to sustain the water resources and related natural systems.
84	(d)  The expeditious implementation of the Southern Water
85	Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy is needed to meet the minimum
86	flow requirement for the Upper Peace River, slow saltwater
87	intrusion, provide for improved lake levels and water quality
88	along the Lake Wales Ridge, and ensure sufficient water supplies
89	for all existing and projected reasonable and beneficial uses.
90	(e)  Sufficient research has been conducted and sufficient
91	plans developed to immediately expand and accelerate programs to
92	sustain the water resources and related natural systems in the
93	Southern Water Use Caution Area.
94	(f)  Implementation of components of the Southern Water Use
95	Caution Area Recovery Strategy, which are contained in the West-
96	Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan, is for the
97	benefit of the public health, safety, and welfare and is in the
98	public interest.
99	(g)  Implementation of the West-Central Florida Water
100	Restoration Action Plan is necessary to meet the minimum flow
101	requirement for the Upper Peace River, slow saltwater intrusion,
102	provide for improved lake levels and water quality along the
103	Lake Wales Ridge, and ensure sufficient water supplies for all
104	existing and projected reasonable and beneficial uses.
105	(h)  A continuing source of funding is needed to
106	effectively implement the West-Central Florida Water Restoration
107	Action Plan.
108	(3)  The district shall implement the West-Central Florida
109	Water Restoration Action Plan in a manner that furthers
110	progressive strategies for the management of water resources, is
111	watershed-based, provides for consideration of water quality
112	issues, and includes monitoring, the development and
113	implementation of best-management practices, and structural and
114	nonstructural projects, including public works projects. The
115	district shall coordinate its implementation of the plan with
116	regional water supply authorities, public and private
117	partnerships, and local, state, and federal partners in order to
118	maximize opportunities for the most efficient and timely
119	expenditures of public funds.
120	(4)  The West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan
121	includes:
122	(a)  The Central West Coast Surface Water Enhancement
123	Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to make additional
124	surface waters available for public supply through restoration
125	of surface waters, natural water flows, and freshwater wetland
126	communities. This initiative is designed to allow limits on
127	groundwater withdrawals in order to slow the rate of saltwater
128	intrusion. The initiative shall be an ongoing program in
129	cooperation with the Peace River-Manasota Regional Water Supply
130	Authority created under s. 373.1962. The initiative shall
131	include the following components, if feasible:
132	1.  The Dona Bay-Cow Pen Slough Component. This component
133	is anticipated to increase the capacity to store excess
134	freshwater flows for the purposes of supplying potable water and
135	restoring wetland ecosystems, including the quality and clarity
136	of water in the system and the subsequent rejuvenation of the
137	system's mollusks, oyster beds, seagrasses, and salinity.
138	2.  The Shell Creek Watershed Component. This component is
139	anticipated to increase water storage capacity upstream,
140	redirect the stored water to its natural and historical flow
141	pattern resulting in a benefit to the downstream ecosystem, and
142	capture high flows for use as public supply during low-flow
143	periods.
144	3.  The Upper Myakka River-Flatford Swamp Component. This
145	component is anticipated to reduce the amount of water entering
146	the swamp so that normal hydroperiods are restored, to create a
147	historically more natural system, and to increase the
148	availability of water for public supply.
149	(b)  The Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management
150	Systems Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to
151	expedite the implementation of production-scale, best-management
152	practices in the agricultural sector, which will result in
153	reductions in groundwater withdrawals and improvements in water
154	quality, water resources, and ecology. The initiative is a cost-
155	share reimbursement program to provide funding incentives to
156	agricultural landowners for the implementation of best-
157	management practices. The initiative shall be implemented by the
158	district in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture and
159	Consumer Services.
160	(c)  The Ridge Lakes Restoration Initiative. The purpose of
161	this initiative is to protect, restore, and enhance natural
162	systems and flood protection by improving and protecting the
163	water quality of approximately 130 lakes located along the Lake
164	Wales Ridge in Polk and Highlands Counties, which quality is
165	threatened by stormwater runoff, wastewater effluent, fertilizer
166	applications, groundwater pollution, degradation of shoreline
167	habitats, and hydrologic alterations. This initiative shall be
168	accomplished through the construction of systems designed to
169	treat the stormwater runoff that threatens the water quality of
170	such lakes. Such systems include swales, retention basins, and
171	long infiltration basins, if feasible.
172	(d)  The Upper Peace River Watershed Restoration
173	Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to improve the
174	quality of waters and ecosystems in the watershed of the Upper
175	Peace River by recharging aquifers, restoring the flow of
176	surface waters, and restoring the capacity of natural systems to
177	store surface waters. The Legislature finds that such
178	improvements are necessary because the quantity and quality of
179	the fresh water that flows to the basin of the Peace River and
180	Charlotte Harbor are adversely affected by the significant
181	alteration and degradation of the watershed of the Upper Peace
182	River, and because restoration of the watershed of the Upper
183	Peace River is a critical component of the Charlotte Harbor
184	National Estuary Program's Comprehensive Conservation and
185	Management Plan, the Southwest Florida Water Management
186	District's Surface Water Improvement and Management Plan, and
187	the Southern Water Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy. This
188	initiative shall include an Upper Peace River Component. In
189	addition to the initiative's other purposes, this component will
190	provide a critical link to a major greenway that extends from
191	the lower southwest coast of this state through the watershed of
192	the Peace River and the Green Swamp and further north to the
193	Ocala National Forest. Projects that are included in the Upper
194	Peace River Component include:
195	1.  The Lake Hancock Component. The purpose of this
196	component is to help meet the minimum-flow requirements in the
197	Upper Peace River and to improve water quality. The component
198	shall include modifications of a structure to control the
199	elevation of water levels in Lake Hancock and the treatment of
200	outfall from the lake.
201	2.  The Peace Creek Canal Restoration Project. The purpose
202	of this project is to enhance the recharge of aquifers, restore
203	the capacity of natural systems to store waters, and provide
204	flood protection. The project shall be implemented by
205	undertaking the actions needed to meet the minimum-flow
206	requirements under s. 373.042 and thereafter holding excess
207	surface water from the Peace Creek Canal in storage for public
208	supply or commercial or industrial water users.
209	(e)  The Central Florida Water Resource Development
210	Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to create and
211	implement a long-term plan that takes a comprehensive approach
212	to limit ground water withdrawals in the Southern Water Use
213	Caution Area and to identify and develop alternative water
214	supplies for Polk County. The project components developed
215	pursuant to this initiative are eligible for state and regional
216	funding under s. 373.196 as an alternative water supply, as
217	defined in s. 373.019, or as a supplemental water supply under
218	the rules of the Southwest Florida Water Management District or
219	the South Florida Water Management District. The initiative
220	shall be implemented by the district as an ongoing program in
221	cooperation with Polk County and the South Florida Water
222	Management District. The initiative shall include:
223	1.  The Kissimmee River Component. This component shall
224	include developing, if feasible, a public water supply from
225	surface waters in the Kissimmee Basin near Lake Kissimmee,
226	blending such supply with other potable water supplies, and
227	distributing such potable waters by connecting to the water-
228	distribution systems of municipal water utilities. This project
229	is intended to increase the amount of water available for
230	meeting public demand for water in the Central Florida
231	Coordination Area.
232	2.  The Upper Peace River Component. This component shall
233	be implemented by investigating the feasibility of using an off-
234	stream reservoir, which may include the storage of water on
235	private lands, to capture water from the Peace River during
236	high-flow periods for use as a public water supply. If it is
237	determined that the most feasible location of an off-stream
238	reservoir is outside Polk County, the district shall promote
239	Polk County's participation in the development and use of such
240	reservoir so long as such development and use satisfies all of
241	the requirements of this chapter and the rules of the district.
242	(5)  By March 1 each year, the district shall report on the
243	implementation of this section as part of the consolidated
244	annual report required in s. 373.036(7). The district shall
245	annually submit a copy of the implementation report and
246	recommended legislative proposals to the Governor, the President
247	of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
248	The district shall prepare the implementation report in
249	cooperation with the other coordinating agencies and affected
250	local governments. The implementation report shall include, at a
251	minimum:
252	(a)  A summary of the conditions of the Southern Water Use
253	Caution Area, including the status of the components of the
254	West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan.
255	(b)  An annual accounting of the expenditure of funds. The
256	accounting must, at a minimum, provide details of expenditures
257	separately by plan component and any subparts of a plan
258	component, and include specific information about amount and use
259	of funds from federal, state, and local government sources. In
260	detailing the use of these funds, the district shall indicate
261	those funds that are designated to meet requirements for
262	matching funds.
263	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2008.

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