Florida Administrative Code › 62 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › 62 - Departmental › Chapter 62-304 - TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS › Section 62-304.100 - Scope and Intent

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1) This chapter
				establishes Total Maximum Daily Loads, and their allocations, for waters that
				have been verified to be impaired by a pollutant pursuant to Chapter 62-303,
				F.A.C.
(2) The following
				abbreviations shall apply throughout this chapter: "TMDL" is Total Maximum
				Daily Load; "WLA" is Wasteload Allocation; "LA" is Load Allocation; "TN" is
				Total Nitrogen; "TP" is Total Phosphorus; "DO" is Dissolved Oxygen; "BOD" is
				Biochemical Oxygen Demand; "CBOD" is Carbonaceous Biochemical Oxygen Demand;
				"AGM" is Annual Geometric Mean; "NPDES" is National Pollutant Discharge
				Elimination System; "MS4" is Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System; and
				"Department" is Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
(3) This rule sections in this chapter are
				organized according to Florida's geographic regions. This organization is
				designed to assist the public in finding specific TMDLs. This organization also
				tracks the Department's watershed management approach, in which the Department
				has assigned all of the State's basins to a specific Department district
				office. Some basin boundaries overlap more than one geographic region and
				readers are encouraged to check rule sections in adjacent geographic regions if
				they cannot find a TMDL for a given water body.
(4) Unless a TMDL contains an explicitly
				quantified margin of safety, the margin of safety is implicit for all TMDLs
				adopted in this chapter.
(5) TMDLs
				and their wasteload and load allocations are not self-implementing.
				Implementation of TMDLs and their allocations is conducted through other
				regulatory programs and the requirements of those programs. Load reductions
				required of individual sources may be adjusted through these other programs as
				long as the reductions are consistent with achieving the overall allocations
				set forth in the TMDL. Aggregated allocations for a category of sources are not
				intended to be applied uniformly to individual sources in that category, unless
				otherwise specified.
(6) Stormwater
				reductions are included in both the MS4 WLA and LA, as applicable. However, in
				determining the overall stormwater reductions needed, the Department does not
				differentiate between the MS4 WLA and the LA, and instead applies the same
				overall reductions to both as if the two categories were a single category
				source, unless otherwise specified.
(7) Pollutant reductions to attain a TMDL can
				come from many sources. The Department's primary focus is obtaining reductions
				from the anthropogenic causes. It is not the intent of any of the TMDLs listed
				in this chapter to abate natural background conditions.
(8) Where a TMDL is expressed as a load with
				a duration other than daily, the daily load shall equal the identified load
				divided by the number of days in the expressed duration. Where a TMDL is
				expressed as a concentration, the daily load shall equal the expressed
				concentration multiplied by the daily average flow over the period of record.
				These daily expressions are for informational purposes only.
(9) Attainment of a TMDL is determined using
				the same assessment methodology as determining attainment of water quality
				criteria.
(10) A nutrient TMDL
				shall not constitute a site specific numeric interpretations of the narrative
				nutrient criterion pursuant to paragraph
				 62-302.531(2)(a),
				F.A.C., unless the notice of proposed rulemaking states that the Department
				intends for the proposed TMDL rule to establish such a site specific
				interpretation for the waterbody, and the Department has held a public meeting
				and asked for public comment during the rulemaking
				process.
Rulemaking Authority
					 403.061,
					 403.067 FS. Law Implemented
					 403.061,
					 403.062,
					 403.067
					 FS.
New 12-22-04, Amended
					 5-9-21.