Suwannee River Partnership

Water...For People, For Life

TMDLs and the Suwannee River Basin

What Is A TMDL?
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is the maximum amount of a given pollutant that a water body can absorb and still maintain its designated uses (e.g., drinking water, fishing, swimming, shellfish harvesting). One water body may have several TMDLs, one for each targeted pollutant. Some pollutants for which TMDLs have been set include: total phosphorus, total nitrogen, iron, etc.)
Under Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act and section 403.067, Florida Statutes (the Florida Watershed Restoration Act), TMDLs must be developed for all waters that are not meeting their designated uses and, consequently, are defined as "impaired waters."

How Are TMDLs Developed And Implemented?

TMDLs are developed and adopted by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), through a watershed-based management approach (managing water resources within their natural boundaries) that addresses the state's major hydrologic basins organized into in five groups.

Major Hydrologic Basins By Group And DEP District Office
DEP
Dist.		 Group 1
Basins 		Group 2
Basins 		Group 3
Basins 		Group 4
Basins 		Group 5
Basins
NW Ochlockonee
St. Marks 		Apalachicola
Chipola 		Choctawhatchee
St. Andrews Bay 		Pensacola Bay Perdido Bay
NE Suwannee Lower
St. Johns 		  Nassau
St. Marys		 Upper
East Coast
Cen. Ocklawaha Middle
St. Johns		 Upper
St. Johns 		Kissimmee Indian River
Lagoon
SW Tampa Bay Tampa Bay
Tributaries 		Sarasota Bay
Peace-Myakka 		Withlacoochee Springs Coast
S Everglades
West Coast 		Charlotte Harbor Caloosahatchee Fisheating Creek Florida Keys
SE Lake Okeechobee St.Lucie
Loxahatchee 		Lake Worth Lagoon
Palm Beach Coast 		Southeast Coast
Biscayne Bay		 Everglades

Each Group Undergoes A Cycle Of Five Phases On A Rotating Schedule

  1. Phase 1: Preliminary Evaluation of water quality
  2. Phase 2: Strategic Monitoring and Assessment to verify water quality impairments
  3. Phase 3: Development and Adoption of TMDLs for waters verified as impaired
  4. Phase 4: Development of Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) to achieve the TMDL
  5. Phase 5: Implementation of the BMAP and monitoring of results

Basin Rotation Schedule For TMDL Development And Implementation

YEAR 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10
PHASES
GROUP 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
GROUP 2   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
GROUP 3     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
GROUP 4       1 2 3 4 5 6 7
GROUP 5         1 2 3 4 5 6
  1st Five-year Cycle
High-priority Waters		 2nd Five-year Cycle
Medium-Priority Waters
*Projected years for phases 3, 4, and 5 may change due to accelerated local activities, length of plan development, legal challenges, etc.

What Activities Take Place In Each Phase?

Phase 1
DEP conducts an initial water quality assessment in the basin, working with stakeholders to determine information required, accepted methods of data collection and analysis, and quality control/quality assurance requirements; develops basin planning list of potentially impaired waters, develops strategic monitoring plan for further data collection.
Phase 2
DEP, in cooperation with local monitoring entities and WMDs, conducts monitoring; derives a revised planning list and a draft verified list of impaired waters for public comment. The DEP Secretary adopts Group-specific verified list of impaired waters by rule for submittal to EPA as 303(d) waters for which TMDLs will be established.
Phase 3
For waterbodies on the adopted verified list of impaired waters, DEP develops and adopts TMDLs, with associated "reasonable and equitable load allocations" among point and nonpoint pollutant sources, using the best available science.
Phase 4
Affected stakeholders work with DEP to reach consensus on load reduction allocations and strategies, often leading to development of a Basin Management Action Plan, (BMAP) to help achieve established TMDLs.
Phase 5
As directed by the Florida Watershed Restoration Act, DEP takes the lead in coordinating the implementation of TMDLs, which may be carried out through non-regulatory and existing regulatory water quality protection programs. Pollutants can enter a water body through point source discharges (generally from a specific facility) or nonpoint discharges (e.g., stormwater runoff, septic tanks). Government agencies, businesses, organizations, and individuals who contribute to these discharges will be asked to share the responsibility of attaining TMDLs through load reductions.

The Role of Agriculture: DACS has the lead in working with agricultural producers to develop Best Management Practices (BMPs) and facilitate their implementation to help achieve TMDLs, including providing assistance in obtaining funding. The DACS Division of Forestry will take the lead in ensuring that any allocations to silviculture are met.

Under the Florida Watershed Restoration Act, nonpoint sources (including agriculture) included in a TMDL Basin Management Action Plan must either implement DACS-adopted BMPs to achieve reductions that help meet a TMDL, or must conduct water quality monitoring prescribed by DEP or the applicable water management district. Implementation of BMPs that DACS has adopted by rule and DEP has verified as effective provides a presumption of compliance with state water quality standards.

TMDL-Related Websites

For more information on the Suwannee River Partnership and the voluntary, incentive-based programs it supports, contact Darrell Smith, Joel Love or Hugh Thomas at (386) 362-1001.

Our water is worth defending and preserving
...that's why we formed the Suwannee River Partnership


Suwannee River Partnership Watershed Management Approach