Florida Fails to Curb Nitrogen Pollution in Florida Springs and Harms Manatees
An Environmental Article from All-Creatures.org

From

Anne Harvey Holbrook, Save the Manatee Club
September 2018

There are typically two main sources of nitrogen, with their relative contribution varying by location: agriculture and septic tanks. Florida ultimately failed to develop sufficient plans to reduce nitrogen to levels necessary for healthy springs.

Volusia Blue Spring is an important warm-water refuge for manatees in winter. Like many Florida springs, Blue Spring’s water quality is threatened by excessive nitrogen pollution. Photo courtesy of Save the Manatee Club.

Despite harmful algae blooms spreading across Florida’s waters, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is still reticent to enforce meaningful regulations to curb the nitrogen pollution that feeds these blooms.

Manatee mother and calf

In 2016 the Florida legislature passed a water bill that included requirements for DEP to develop Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs) for a number of Florida’s springs. The purpose of the BMAPs is to identify sources of nitrogen pollution and work with local governments and other stakeholders responsible for the pollution, to propose and carry out projects to remediate existing pollution, and limit future inputs. There are typically two main sources of nitrogen, with their relative contribution varying by location: agriculture and septic tanks. DEP was supposed to use the BMAPs to address these pollution sources within each springs basin. However, the agency made faulty assumptions, relied on voluntary participation by local governments, and ultimately failed to develop sufficient plans to reduce nitrogen to levels necessary for healthy springs.

Save the Manatee Club (SMC) has been involved in the process from the outset to encourage DEP to adopt more protective plans, particularly
for Blue Spring in Volusia County where so many manatees congregate in wintertime for protection from colder waters. Unfortunately, the final BMAP
for Blue Spring contains several glaring flaws. First, the estimated reductions from several of the most important projects proposed seemed to be significantly inflated. For example, DEP gave the full amount of potential reduction credits for a local fertilizer ordinance that does not have any current mechanism in place to measure its effectiveness and does not require a summer fertilizer sales ban. Although septic tanks are the largest source of nitrogen inputs in the watershed, the BMAP does not include specific plans to address existing septic pollution. Finally, the BMAP does not account for the region’s rapid growth, even though new septic tanks continue to be permitted and installed within the springshed.

The BMAPs would prohibit the installation of conventional septic tanks within a small segment of the springshed called the Priority Focus Area, but SMC and others do not believe this will be sufficient to curb nutrient pollution of our springs.

The Blue Spring BMAP is not the only plan that fails to meaningfully address nutrients. The Florida Springs Council, of which SMC is a steering committee member, and other partner organizations have filed extensions of time to consider challenges to four other BMAPs: those for the Wekiva, Sante Fe, Suwannee, and Rainbow/Silver Spring watersheds. SMC has filed an extension for time to consider an administrative challenge to the Volusia Blue Spring BMAP. The Florida Homebuilders’ Association has filed a request for a six-month extension on 13 plans. Please look to future editions of The Manatee Zone and our online publications for updates on this important issue.

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