Existing regulations allow for up to 90 days each year of discharges from wastewater treatment plants during heavy rainfall, of up to several million gallons per day, but these are “poorly reported,” Earthjustice says.
Meanwhile, the state has cut back on both the number of inspections of these units and the amounts in fines assessed, which a 2020 Florida Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility report referred to as “the traffic ticket approach.”
The letter points to low participation rates by agricultural operations in state programs to limit discharges of fertilizers. Non-participation is supposed to bring state penalties but the DEP has imposed none, it says.