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A Collaborative Approach to Meeting Water Quality Goals : Tampa Bay, Florida

A Collaborative Approach to Meeting Water Quality Goals : Tampa Bay, Florida. Holly Greening, Tampa Bay Estuary Program Michael Connors, City of St. Petersburg May 1, 2012. Who we are. Holly Greening Executive Director Tampa Bay Estuary Program. Michael Connors, P.E. Administrator,

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A Collaborative Approach to Meeting Water Quality Goals : Tampa Bay, Florida

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  1. A Collaborative Approach to Meeting Water Quality Goals :Tampa Bay, Florida Holly Greening, Tampa Bay Estuary Program Michael Connors, City of St. Petersburg May 1, 2012

  2. Who we are Holly Greening Executive Director Tampa Bay Estuary Program Michael Connors, P.E. Administrator, Public Works City of St. Petersburg

  3. Tampa Bay • Florida’s largest open- water estuary • Open water: 400 sq miles • Watershed: 2,600 sq miles • Average water depth: 12 feet • Watershed population: 2.3 million • Port of Tampa in top 10 in U.S.

  4. Diverse Watershed Old Tampa Bay • Urban • Agriculture • Mining • Natural areas Tampa St. Petersburg

  5. Tampa Bay in the 1970s “The Kitchen” (Hillsborough Bay near Gibsonton) Archie Creek Photo by JOR Johansson

  6. Troubled Waters • Half of Tampa Bay seagrasses lost by 1982 • Visibility reduced to 2 feet in some areas • Fish kills common

  7. What caused the Bay’s decline? • Poorly treated sewage • Unrestricted dredging and filling • Untreated stormwater runoff and industrial discharges Common pollutant: NITROGEN

  8. Citizens demanded action • Earth Day 1970 • Save Our Bay formed • In 1978, State legislation (Grizzle-Figg Act) required upgrades to all wastewater treatment plants • Tampa upgraded sewage plant • St. Petersburg developed reuse

  9. How did local governments meet these legislative requirements to reduce nitrogen from WWTPs? • Technologies applied • How were these upgrades paid for? • Other issues

  10. The Tampa Bay Estuary Program: One of 28 National Estuary Programs • Inter-governmental program started in 1991 • Science-based management • Unique federal-local partnership

  11. Partners vital to the Bay’s recovery

  12. Tampa Bay Seagrass Restoration Goal Seagrass Restoration Goal: Restore seagrass acreage to that observed in ~1950. Difference between 1950 and 1990 seagrass cover

  13. Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Strategy Paradigm TN Load Chlorophyll Light Attenuation Seagrass Growth & Reproduction Seagrass Light Requirement

  14. Tampa Bay Public/Private Partnership Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Consortium • Formed in 1996 • Partnership of: • local governments, • regulatory agency participants, • local phosphate companies, • agricultural interests and • electric utilities 45+ NMC participants responsible for meeting nitrogen load reduction goals

  15. Many projects have improved the Bay • 250+ projects implemented between 1996-2011 • Decreased industrial discharges • Upgrades to sewage plants • Improvements to air quality at power plants • Better handling of materials (less spills) • Stormwater treatment • Residential actions

  16. Nitrogen loading has decreased

  17. Water quality has improved Advanced wastewater treatment begins Stormwater regulations enacted Consortium initiated Data source: EPCHC

  18. And seagrasses have responded Data: SWFWMD

  19. Tampa Bay TMDL 1998- EPA Region 4 approves TBEP target N loads as TMDL for nitrogen for Tampa Bay. 2008- EPA stated that allocations would be required to be incorporated into FDEP regulatory permits in 2010. FDEP allowed Consortium to collaboratively develop recommended allocations to all sources within the watershed.

  20. Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Consortium • 45+ public and private partners throughout watershed- collaborative approach to meeting regulatory water quality goals (EPA TMDL) • Consortium developed and agreed to voluntary limits on nitrogen loads for all sources on 9/2009. State approved in 12/2010. EPA final approval pending.

  21. Summary of allocations • Nitrogen limits (allocations) for all sources in the Tampa Bay watershed have been defined by the Consortium members and accepted by regulatory agencies. • These allocations are being incorporated into NPDES permits as they are renewed. • Stormwater MS4 allocations are expressed as ‘percent reduction needed’.

  22. A local government perspective of participating in a collaborative effort to meet regulatory water quality requirements • Benefits • Drawbacks • Costs • Lessons learned

  23. Key Elements in Tampa Bay’s Collaborative Management Strategy • Target resources identified by both public and science community as “worthy” indicators (clear water, seagrass habitat recovery, better fishing) • Participants willing to work together towards common goals; decided they wanted to ‘drive the bus’ • Science-based numeric goals and targets • Monitoring capable of detecting changes

  24. Key Elements in Tampa Bay’s Collaborative Management Strategy • Multiple tools: Regulation; public/private collaborative actions; citizen actions; point and nonpoint treated equally • Recognized “honest broker” to track, facilitate, assess progress (TBEP) • Regulatory agencies agreed to allow the Consortium to try the collaborative approach and participated throughout • Cost-effective

  25. Final thoughts from a Public Works Administrator

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