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What are the most pressing issues facing Tampa Bay?
One of the top issues is going to be implementation of Total Maximum Daily Loads, particularly in this region given that DEP and EPA have signed off on the estuary program's nitrogen goals as the TMDL for nitrogen for Tampa Bay. That will require unprecedented coordination. One the one hand you have a regulatory agency responsible for issuing and renewing permits for point source discharges, and on the other hand an estuary program whose science-based goals for bay improvement are being met by a voluntary consortium of local government and industry representatives.. There's got to be a connection. If we're going to rely on the Nitrogen Management Consortium to assure nitrogen load reductions, and we have a regulatory program to implement as well, then the agency and the estuary program can't proceed without some kind of a partnership to ensure that the goals for both programs can be met. How we keep our data, how we collect our data, how we quantify it and manage it - all these things are affected. We'll have to coordinate this information to make sure that permitting decisions are moving in the right direction. We're breaking new ground here.
Editor's Note: Section 303 of the federal Clean Water Act establishes water quality standards and TMDL programs. A TMDL or Total Maximum Daily Load is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that amount to the pollutant's sources.
Another key issue is the build-out of the watershed. Most of us tend to assume Tampa Bay is built out - but it's not. The coastal areas are, Pinellas certainly is, and parts of Hillsborough and Manatee counties - but there are many, many areas where you're now seeing a lot of residential development occurring. We've got a huge opportunity with developments coming online if we can put something in place that creates a different model for addressing stormwater. If you don't start early in influencing the type of paving, the type of landscaping, and the type of stormwater treatment system that goes in, you often lose any opportunity to effect change.
When developers see that it can be a marketing advantage to incorporate design features or meet standards that not only benefit the environment but also help attract buyers, they'll be eager to participate. Getzoff cites Audubon's Signature Golf course program and DEP's own Clean Marina designation program as proof that green marketing can be attractive and profitable for participating developers.
A third issue is stormwater retrofitting. In many cases we have these old systems without any treatment, and in some instances, very old piping systems where you might even have some overflow from domestic wastewater piping into storm sewers. Retrofitting these stormwater systems can provide tremendous benefit to the bay. Stormwater utility fees can help pay for these improvements, but it's important to ensure that the fees are actually dedicated for these purposes.
Are local governments doing enough to combat pollution from stormwater runoff?
Enough is kind of an absolute term. There's always opportunity for improvement. Some (local governments) are more focused than others, and all of the local governments know of older locations they need to retrofit.
What are your top priorities for the District?
One of them certainly is working with the estuary program and DEP on the TMDL process and implementation, which will be very exciting and create huge opportunities. A second is implementing new authority for cleanup of contaminated soils using Risk Based Correction Action. We didn't have any way of identifying what was appropriate short of "take it all out of here." And that led to many of these sites not getting developed, not getting cleaned up and protracted discussions that hang on for years without closure.
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This will allow us to take a risk-based approach specific to the contaminants and appropriate to the site, and identify what cleanup level is needed. We'll be able to reduce contamination and help make some of these properties more attractive for redevelopment.
The agency also is taking more of a multi-media approach to implementing its regulatory authority. It's easy to get tunnel vision when you're implementing programs because you've got very specific, discreet regulations and your funding is often pipelined. What we're trying to do now is look cross-program at facilities that have more than one area of regulatory authority to make sure we're not missing something. And we're beginning to look at the sites that way with teams of people to say 'okay, never mind what's in your permit or my permit, what's really happening on this site?' Before, when each program went out on its own, if we weren't looking for it, we didn't always see it.
What's working and not working in bay management?
What the estuary program has put in place is working very well. The numbers speak for themselves. The data show improvements in chlorophyll levels, nitrogen and seagrasses in the bay. The nitrogen management consortium, the visibility the estuary program has brought to bay management, and the involvement of local governments - all of that has been outstanding.
What we're now seeing is that all the things that were readily achievable and "countable" may already have been done - because the point sources are essentially being addressed. We're not going to see, for example, our domestic wastewater plants get a whole lot cleaner. So again, when you say how can bay management improve, we've got to keep coming back to non-point sources. We need to continue working with agriculture, and start working with the residential and commercial development communities that have not had a strong presence in the estuary program.
How will the agency address non-point sources in meeting TMDLs?
It's something that our Water Resource Management Division is still trying to map out. There are many things to consider: pollutant credit trading, stormwater retrofitting and possibly some future changes in stormwater standards. I think one of the most interesting options is pollution credit trading. There's only so much improvement you can achieve through existing industrial and municipal point sources. Point sources are already regulated, they have to meet certain reduction levels, and there's only going to be so much of an improvement you can get at a reasonable cost. Some parts of the country are exploring pollution credit trading, EPA has published guidance, and Chesapeake Bay is now implementing an early program with seed money from EPA.
For instance, a farmer might "sell" a credit based on his ability to achieve nitrogen reductions at an agricultural operation to a permitted industrial discharger for whom further on-site reductions are cost prohibitive. Trading opens up the opportunity to achieve greater overall reductions quicker and more cost effectively than traditional regulatory confines allow.
One of the big challenges is figuring out how to run the numbers or calculate the credits. The other challenge is bringing developers to the table where we know we have real and substantial sources of non-point pollution and say to these interests "this would be cost effective for you and there may be might be a marketable credit to be gained at the other end of the process." It's going to take a lot of coordination and partnering, but I think it's something the estuary program is ideally suited to engage in. They've got the broad-based participation. They just need broader participation from the development community.
Most folks tend to forget?
People tend to forget environmental regulation is relatively new - it's only been around for 30 years or so. The Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act have only been in place since the 1970s. We've made significant strides since then.
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For Deborah Getzoff, talking shop at home after hours is not only welcome, it's encouraged. Husband and fellow attorney John Voelpel, now semi-retired and studying environmental ethics and philosophy at USF, dishes up the latest environmental news each morning before breakfast. "The first thing he does is print out articles (culled from a daily Internet news monitoring service) before I get my first cup of coffee," says Getzoff, director of the Florida's Department of Environmental Protection's Southwest District.
