This website has been authorized by the Palm Beach County MS4 NPDES (PBC NPDES) Steering Committee as a resource for all permittees within the county. It is intended that this site will provide the permittee with helpful information on understanding and complying with the requirements of the MS4 NPDES permit.
  
 
 
 

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). Note: both FDEP and EPA refer to the water body segments and/or their contributing area as "WBIDs."

The MS4 permit requires permittees address any TMDL(s) that was established by FDEP (or that was adopted by the EPA and verified by FDEP) at the time the MS4 permit was issued. A permittee is only responsible to take part in TMDL program activities (planning, monitoring, improvements, etc.) if its MS4 discharges into the water body with a TMDL. Thus, for any given permit cycle, it’s likely only some Palm Beach County MS4 permittees will have TMDL activities.

Existing TMDLs in Palm Beach County

The MS4 Cycles 1 and 2 permits were issued when no TMDLs were in place, and therefore, there were no required TMDL activities.

When the MS4 Cycle 3 permit was issued (3/2/2011), there were 7 TMDLs in place. The relevant MS4 permittees (stakeholders to the TMDL) addressed the TMDLs during the period of the Cycle 3 permit and all required activities are complete.

The MS4 Cycle 4 permit was issued on 9/8/2016, and at that time, there were 3 TMDLs in place. These are listed in the table below.

Palm Beach County TMDLs for 4th Cycle Permit
Agency WBID Waterbody Basin Consitit-
utent		 TMDL % Reduction Date MS4s Report Other Study
EPA 3226C SW Fork Loxahatchee River St. Lucie/ Loxahatchee Fecal Coliform <43
(counts/
100ml)		 91 5/16/2012 Jupiter, PBC, FDOT, PBC, SIRWCD, Turnpike, NPBCID View Report Lox. PRP
EPA 3262A Lake Ida Lake Worth Lagoon Nutrients TN=0.857 mg/l
TP=0.062 mg/l		 20
45		 11/9/2012 Delray, Boynton, FDOT, PBC View Report Boynton Inlet
EPA 3264A E-1 Canal Lake Worth Lagoon Fecal Coliform <400
(counts/
100ml)		 94
0		 8/31/2011 FDOT, PBC View Report BPC for E-1 Canal

For locations of all TMDLs in Palm Beach County View FDEP Interactive TMDL Map.

During Year 1 of the permit cycle, permittees with TMDL responsibilities (stakeholders) must develop a prioritization plan for the TMDLs it is party to. For Cycle 4 of the PBC MS4 permit, 8 permittees are TMDL stakeholders of one or more TMDLs. These permittees submitted their prioritizations during Year 1 and all were approved by FDEP. The 8 permittees, their prioritized TMDL, and the associated schedules are presented below.

Cycle 4 MS4 Stakeholders and Prioritized TMDLs
MS4 Permittee WBID-Waterbody-TMDL Monitoring Summary Due BPCP Due Supplemental SWMP Due
Boynton Beach 3262A- Lake IDA – Nutrients (EPA) 03/31/20 N/A 03/31/21
Delray Beach 3262A- Lake IDA – Nutrients (EPA) 03/31/20 N/A 03/31/21
FDOT District 4* 3264A – E-1 Canal 03/31/20 03/31/20 N/A
Bacteria Loxahatchee River PRP (3226C) N/A N/A N/A
FDOT Turnpike Enterprise* Bacteria Loxahatchee River - PRP (3226C) N/A 03/31/20 N/A
Jupiter* Loxahatchee River PRP (3226C) N/A N/A N/A
NPBCID* Loxahatchee River PRP (3226C) N/A 03/31/21 N/A
Palm Beach County* 3264A – E-1 Canal Bacteria 03/31/20 03/31/20 N/A
Loxahatchee River PRP (3226C) N/A N/A N/A
SIRWCD* Loxahatchee River PRP (3226C) N/A N/A N/A
* All participating in FDEP coordinated Pollutant Reduction Plan for Loxahatchee River

Impaired Water Body Segments

Although no action is required under the MS4 permit for impaired water bodies or TMDLs in the planning stage, this information is still tracked by the MS4 Group.

Within Palm Beach County, both FDEP and EPA have identified impaired WBIDs. Both a map (this map is a high-resolution large file and takes some time to download) and a list of the impaired WBIDs (April 2021) are available.

FDEP also develops a Planning List for the 2020 development of TMDLs. The current Planning List identifies TMDL development through 2022. As of January 2020, FDEP has three TMDLs in Palm Beach County underway (Lake Ida, Pine Lake and Lake Osborne).

TMDL Planning List through 2022 (Palm Beach County WBIDs)
WBID Waterbody Name Basin Parameter MS4 Stakeholder(s)
3262A Lake Ida Lake Worth Lagoon TP and Chlorophyll-a Palm Beach County, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, FDOT-District IV
3245C4 Pine Lake Lake Worth Lagoon Chlorophyll-a Palm Beach County, FDOT – District IV, West Palm Beach
3256A Lake Osborne Lake Worth Lagoon TP and Chlorophyll-a Palm Beach County, Atlantis, FDOT-District IV, Greenacres, Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, FDOT Turnpike

FDEP On-going Waterbody Assessments

FDEP’s on-going assessment program for waterbody impairment divides the state’s waterbodies into 5 Basin 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, four of the Basin Groups are represented. The third assessment cycle began in 2012. Below is the Assessment Cycle 4 schedule that FDEP published in 2018.

Bsin Group Watershed Assessment Cycle Planning Data Period Verified Assessment Data Period Assessment Year
1 Lake Okeechobee 4 01/01/2006 – 12/31/2015 01/01/2011 – 06/30/2018 2019
2 Loxahatchee River 4 01/01/2007 – 12/31/2016 01/01/2012 – 06/30/2019 2020
3 Lake Worth Lagoon 4 01/01/2008 – 12/31/2017 01/01/2013 – 06/30/2020 2021
5 Everglades 4 01/01/2010 – 12/31/2019 01/01/2015 – 06/30/2022 2022

For Additional Information

FDEP has developed a web-based geographic tool, NNC Tracker, to view applicable numeric nutrient criteria for waterbodies throughout the state.
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