The Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday begins holding a series of rule development workshops in 10 cities to improve water-use permitting consistency among the districts including choosing the same names for permits.
A drought across north Florida late last spring and a proposed water-use permit near Silver Springs has focused environmentalists' attention on water use and water planning. Meanwhile, DEP under Gov. Rick Scott has been focused on streamlined permitting and reducing inconsistency among the districts.
The goal of the DEP rule development is to make consumptive-use permitting less confusing, make environmental protection consistent statewide, provide incentives for water conservation, and streamline the process without reducing protection of the environment and other water users, said Janet Llewellyn, policy administrator office in DEP's Office of Water Policy.
Some rules are different among districts because of the differences in natural resources they were written to protect, Llewellyn said. Other rules are different, she said, only because they were developed separately among the districts.
"Those are the ones we are trying to identify, make consistent and improve so it is not only consistent but is the most efficient process we think we can apply to that permit review," Llewellyn said.
DEP is proposing to establish a general permit by rule that receives automatic approval if standard conditions are met, she said. To qualify, the withdrawal must be for less than 100,000 gallons per day. A more stringent threshold may be required in sensitive resource areas.
All other applications will require individual permits. Each district board still can determine which size or type of individual permits will be issued by staff and which will be issued by the board.
The department found that many water-use permits across the state are for less than 100,000 gallons per day. But the total water use was small compared to the fewer permits for millions of gallons of daily water use, Llewellyn said.
Audubon Florida says a revised state rule should include specific requirements for water efficiency in all permits for more than 1 million gallons per day. Those permits should allow for public notice, a 15-day comment period and approval at district board meetings.
Improving consistency can improve environmental protection if more attention is paid to larger water users rather than to smaller users who don't pose an environmental threat, said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida.
"If it is just streamlining for the sake of streamlining -- less government -- then that's not a good thing," he said. "For the purpose … of focusing government attention on the bigger problems, that is a good thing."
The workshop Tuesday will be held at 9 a.m. at the Suwannee River Water Management District, 9225 County Road 49 in Live Oak.