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History -- New
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PART
II
THE
PLANNING LIST
62-303.300
Methodology to Develop the Planning List.
(1)
This part establishes a methodology for developing a planning list of waters
to be assessed pursuant to subsections 403.067(2) and (3), F.S.
A waterbody shall be placed on the planning list if it fails to meet
the minimum criteria for surface waters established in Rule 62-302.500, F.A.C.;
any of its designated uses, as described in this part; or applicable water
quality criteria, as described in this part.
It should be noted that water quality criteria are designed to protect
either aquatic life use support, which is addressed in sections
62-303.310-353, or to protect human health, which is addressed in sections
62-303.360-380. (2)
Waters on the list of water segments submitted to EPA in 1998 that do not meet
the data sufficiency requirements for the planning list shall nevertheless be
included in the state’s initial planning list developed pursuant to this
rule. Specific
Authority 403.061, 403.067, FS. Law
Implemented 403.062, 403.067, FS. History
-- New
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62-303.310 Evaluation
of Aquatic Life Use Support.
A Class I, II, or III water shall be placed on the planning list for
assessment of aquatic life use support (propagation and maintenance of a
healthy, well-balanced population of fish and wildlife) if, based on
sufficient quality and quantity of data, it:
(1) exceeds applicable aquatic life-based water quality criteria as
outlined in section 62-303.320,
(2) does not meet biological assessment thresholds for its water
body type as outlined in section 62-303.330,
(3) is acutely or chronically toxic as outlined in section
62-303.340, or
(4) exceeds nutrient thresholds as outlined in section 62-303.350. Specific
Authority 403.061, 403.067, FS. Law
Implemented 403.062, 403.067, FS. History
-- New
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62-303.320 Exceedances
of Aquatic Life-Based Water Quality Criteria.
(1) Water segments shall be placed on the planning list if, using
objective and credible data, as defined by the requirements specified in this
section, the number of exceedances of an applicable water quality criterion
due to pollutant discharges is greater than or equal to the number listed in
Table 1 for the given sample size. This
table provides the number of exceedances that indicate a minimum of a 10%
exceedance frequency with a minimum of an
80% confidence level using a binomial distribution.
(2) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Storage and Retrieval (STORET) database shall be the primary source of data
used for determining water quality criteria exceedances. As required by rule 62-40.540(3), F.A.C., the Department,
other state agencies, the Water Management Districts, and local governments
collecting surface water quality data in Florida shall enter the data into
STORET within one year of collection. Other
sampling entities that want to ensure their data will be considered for
evaluation should ensure their data are entered into STORET.
The Department shall consider data submitted to the Department from
other sources and databases if the data meet the sufficiency and data quality
requirements of this section.
(3) When determining water quality criteria exceedances, data older
than ten years shall not be used to develop planning lists.
Further, more recent data shall take precedence over older data if:
(a) the newer data indicate a change in water quality and this
change is related to changes in pollutant loading to the watershed or improved
pollution control mechanisms in the watershed contributing to the assessed
area, or
(b) the Department determines that the older data do not meet the
data quality requirements of this section or are no longer representative of
the water quality of the segment.
The Department shall note for the record that the older data were
excluded and provide details about why the older data were excluded. (4) To be assessed for water quality criteria exceedances using Table 1, a water segment shall have a minimum of ten, temporally independent samples for the ten year period. To be treated as an independent sample, samples from a given station shall be at least one week apart. Samples collected at the same location less than seven days apart shall be considered as one sample, with the median value used to represent the sampling period. However, if any of the individual values exceed acutely toxic levels, then the worst case value shall be used to represent the sampling period. The worst case value is the minimum value for dissolved oxygen, both the minimum and maximum for pH, or the maximum value for other parameters. However, when data are available from diel or depth profile studies, the lower tenth percentile value shall be used to represent worst case conditions. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
