Impaired Waters & TMDLs

TMDL Requirements

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Water Resource Management uses a comprehensive approach to protecting Florida water quality involving basin-wide assessments and the application of regulatory and non-regulatory strategies to reduce pollution. The Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program is the heart of this comprehensive approach. (From the FDEP website.)

The PBC MS4 NPDES third term permit includes requirements for those permittees whose MS4s discharge to a water body segment that had an EPA-established or FDEP-adopted TMDL at the time the third term permit was issued (March 2, 2011). TMDLs established or adopted after March 2, 2011 will be addressed in the next permit cycle. Both FDEP and EPA refer to the water body segments and their associated contributing areas as WBIDs.

When the current permit was issued, there were no FDEP-adopted TMDLs, however, there were seven (7) EPA-established TMDLs in Palm Beach County.

The seven TMDLs established by EPA by the start of our current permit (3/2/2011) must be addressed during the current permit cycle. They are:

WBID Segment Name Basin Consitit- utent TMDL Percent Reduction Date MS4's Report 3212 D, E, G Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee Iron 0.3(MG/l) 51 2/23/2005 None   3233 L-8 Canal Lake Okeechobee Turbidity 32(NTU) 52 3/29/2007 Indian Trail I.D., PBC View Report 3238 West Palm Beach Canal Lake Okeechobee Turbidity & TSS 32(NTU) 33(MG/l) 66 0 3/29/2007 Pahokee, FDOT, PBC View Report 3244 East Beach Lake Okeechobee Turbidity & TSS 32(NTU) 33(MG/l) 12 0 3/29/2007 Pahokee, FDOT, PBC View Report 3247 715 Farms Lake Okeechobee Turbidity & TSS 32(NTU) 33(MG/l) 0 0 3/29/2007 FDOT, PBC View Report 3248 N. New River Canal Lake Okeechobee Turbidity & TSS 32(NTU) 33(MG/l) 0 0 3/29/2007 South Bay, Belle Glade, FDOT, PBC View Report 3251 S-3 Lake Okeechobee Turbidity 32(NTU) 0 3/29/2007 FDOT, PBC View Report

Note: Although "0" percent reduction is listed for some TMDLs, the water quality for these waterbodies was determined to be impaired for turbidity, and therefore the established TMDL must be met.

Process for TMDL Implementation
The flow chart below provides a schematic of the process to be followed for an established or adopted TMDL. The timeline in the flow chart is based on the effective date of the permit.

The six PBC permittees affected by TMDLs during this permit cycle met to discuss an approach. A draft Prioritization Plan was submitted to FDEP, which identified the L-8 as the top priority WBID/TMDL for the stakeholders. FDEP provided comments and the plan was revised. Next, the Monitoring and Assessment Plan was submitted and accepted by FDEP. Monitoring was then conducted and no exceedences of state water quality values for turbidity were found. These results were reported with the 2013 annual MS4 NPDES report. Sincere there were no exceedences, no additional water quality improvement programs to address this parameter are required. All 7 EPA TMDLs were addressed in years 1, 2 and 3 Joint Annual Reports. No additional stormwater management programs are needed.

A map depicting the WBID boundaries, along with municipal and county boundaries can be downloaded here.

close

It is still important for all permittees to track TMDLs that are or will be established or adopted after the permit issuance date. The following table lists the TMDLs established or adopted after March 2, 2011. (These will be addressed in the next MS4 NPDES permit cycle.)

Impaired Water Body Segments

Within Palm Beach County, both FDEP and EPA have identified impaired WBIDs. Both a map and a list of the impaired WBIDs (April 2017) are available.

An impaired WBID is a candidate for a TMDL, so it is important to keep track of impaired WBIDs to which your MS4 contributes.

FDEP’s assessment program for waterbody impairment divides the state’s waterbodies into 5 Groups, with each group cycling through a 5-year assessment cycle. The 5-year cycle includes planning, monitoring, preliminary evaluation, public meetings, final evaluation, and Secretarial (state) adoption of the verified lists. Within Palm Beach County there are four basin groups. The third assessment cycle began in 2012. Below is the assessment schedule that FDEP published in 2018.

Additional Information

A number of presentations have been given on TMDLs throughout the state. The following list includes several that may be of interest. Click on the title to download a PDF of the presentation.
Implementing TMDLs, presented by Busby (9/11/11)
Implementing TMDLs, presented by Frick, (9/11/11)
Bacteria Pollution Control Plans, presented by Singleton, (9/11/11)