Florida Administrative Code › 62 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › 62 - Departmental › Chapter 62-303 - IDENTIFICATION OF IMPAIRED SURFACE WATERS › Part I - GENERAL › Section 62-303.200 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
As used in this chapter:
(1) "Biological Health Assessment" shall mean
				  one of the following aquatic community-based biological evaluations: Stream
				  Condition Index (SCI), Lake Vegetation Index (LVI), or Shannon-Weaver Diversity
				  Index.
(2) "Biological
				  Reconnaissance (BioRecon)" shall mean a biological assessment that measures
				  stream health in predominantly fresh waters using benthic macroinvertebrates,
				  performed and calculated using the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the
				  Biological Reconnaissance as described in subparagraph
				   62-160.800(1)(c) 
				  1., F.A.C.
(3) "Clean techniques"
				  shall mean those applicable field sampling procedures and analytical methods
				  referenced in "Method 1669: Sampling Ambient Water for Trace Metals at EPA
				  Water Quality Criteria Levels, July 1996, USEPA, Office of Water, Engineering
				  and Analysis Division, Washington, D.C., " (
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-06032
),
				  which is incorporated by reference. Copies of the procedures and methods may be
				  obtained by writing to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 2600
				  Blair Stone Road, MS #6511, Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400.
(4) "Department" or "DEP" shall mean the
				  Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
(5) "Designated use" shall mean the present
				  and future most beneficial use of a body of water as designated by the
				  Environmental Regulation Commission by means of the classification system
				  contained in Chapter 62-302, F.A.C.
(6) "Estuary" shall mean predominantly marine
				  regions of interaction between rivers and nearshore ocean waters, where tidal
				  action and river flow mix fresh and salt water. Such areas include bays, mouths
				  of rivers, and lagoons.
(7)
				  "Impaired water" shall mean a waterbody or waterbody segment that does not meet
				  its applicable water quality standards as set forth in Chapters 62-302 and
				  62-4, F.A.C., as determined by the methodology in Part IV of this chapter, due
				  in whole or in part to discharges of pollutants from point or nonpoint
				  sources.
(8) "Lake" shall mean a
				  lentic fresh waterbody with a relatively long water residence time and an open
				  water area that is free from emergent vegetation under typical hydrologic and
				  climatic conditions. Aquatic plants, as defined in subsection
				   62-340.200(1),
				  F.A.C., may be present in the open water. Lakes do not include springs,
				  wetlands, or streams (except portions of streams that exhibit lake-like
				  characteristics, such as long water residence time, increased width, or
				  predominance of biological taxa typically found in non-flowing
				  conditions).
(9) "Lake Vegetation
				  Index (LVI)" shall mean a Biological Health Assessment that measures biological
				  health in predominantly freshwater lakes using aquatic and wetland plants,
				  performed and calculated using the Standard Operating Procedures for the LVI as
				  described in subparagraph
				   62-160.800(1)(c) 
				  2., F.A.C.
(10) "Nuisance species"
				  shall mean species of flora or fauna whose noxious characteristics or presence
				  in sufficient number, biomass, or areal extent may reasonably be expected to
				  prevent, or unreasonably interfere with, a designated use of those
				  waters.
(11) "Nutrient" shall mean
				  total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate-nitrite
				  (NO3 + NO2), or other organic or
				  inorganic forms of nitrogen or phosphorus.
(12) "Nutrient response variable" shall mean
				  a biological variable, such as chlorophyll
a,
or biomass or
				  structure of the phytoplankton, periphyton or vascular plant community, that
				  responds to nutrient load or concentration in a predictable and measurable
				  manner. For purposes of interpreting paragraph
				   62-302.530(47)(b),
				  F.A.C., dissolved oxygen (DO) shall also be considered a nutrient response
				  variable if it is demonstrated for the waterbody that DO conditions result in
				  biological imbalance and the DO responds to a nutrient load or concentration in
				  a predictable and measurable manner.
(13) "Nutrient Watershed Region" shall mean a
				  drainage area over which the nutrient thresholds in paragraph
				   62-302.531(2)(c),
				  F.A.C., apply.
(a) The Panhandle West region
				  consists of the Perdido Bay Watershed, Pensacola Bay Watershed, Choctawhatchee
				  Bay Watershed, St. Andrew Bay Watershed, and Apalachicola Bay
				  Watershed.
(b) The Panhandle East
				  region consists of the Apalachee Bay Watershed, and Econfina/Steinhatchee
				  Coastal Drainage Area.
(c) The
				  North Central region consists of the Suwannee River Watershed and an area in
				  Alachua County stream to sink region affected by the Hawthorne
				  Formation.
(d) The West Central
				  region consists of the Peace, Myakka, Hillsborough, Alafia, Manatee, Little
				  Manatee River Watersheds, Sarasota/Lemon Bay Watershed and small, direct Tampa
				  Bay tributary watersheds south of the Hillsborough River Watershed.
(e) The Peninsula region consists of the
				  Waccasassa Coastal Drainage Area, Withlacoochee Coastal Drainage Area,
				  Crystal/Pithlachascotee Coastal Drainage Area, small, direct Tampa Bay
				  tributary watersheds west of the Hillsborough River Watershed, small, direct
				  Charlotte Harbor tributary watersheds south of the Peace River Watershed,
				  Caloosahatchee River Watershed, Estero Bay Watershed, Imperial River Watershed,
				  Kissimmee River/Lake Okeechobee Drainage Area, Loxahatchee/St. Lucie Watershed,
				  Indian River Watershed, Daytona/St. Augustine Coastal Drainage Area, St. John's
				  River Watershed, Nassau Coastal Drainage Area, and St. Mary's River
				  Watershed.
(f) The South Florida
				  region consists of those areas south of the Peninsula region, such as the
				  Cocohatchee River Watershed, Naples Bay Watershed, Rookery Bay Watershed, Ten
				  Thousand Islands Watershed, Lake Worth Lagoon Watershed, Southeast Coast -
				  Biscayne Bay Watershed, Everglades Watershed, Florida Bay Watershed, and the
				  Florida Keys.
A map of the Nutrient Watershed Regions, dated October 17,
					 2011 (
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-06033
),
					 is incorporated by reference herein and may be obtained by writing to the
					 Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 2600 Blair Stone Road, MS
					 #6511, Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400.