The Division of Water Resource Management program is responsible for implementing state laws providing for the protection of the quality of Florida's drinking water, ground water, rivers, lakes, estuaries, and wetlands; reclamation of mined lands; and the preservation of the state's beach and dune systems. The division works closely with the department's Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration, Division of Water Restoration Assistance, and Florida's five water management districts. Its day-to-day permitting and compliance programs are implemented largely in the department's six regulatory district offices.

The division consists of several programs that perform water facilities regulation, beach permitting and management, and operational support services and functions. The division also serves as Florida's central point of contact for federally delegated water programs, such as National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater, Source and Drinking Water, and Underground Injection Control (UIC).

The division has regulatory oversight of certain functions of water and wastewater facilities throughout the state such as industrial and domestic wastewater, power plants, municipal separate storm water systems (MS4s), and public drinking water systems. The division regulates certain beach construction and beach, inlet, and port management activities. The division also regulates activities related to the exploration, drilling, and production of oil and gas in Florida. It is organized into the following major regulatory programs.

• Aquifer Protection Program
• Beach Field Services Program
• Beaches and Mines Funding Assistance Programs 

  • Beaches Funding Assistance

  • Mines Funding Assistance

• Beaches, Inlets and Ports Program
• Operator Certification Program
• Coastal Construction Control Line Program
• Domestic Wastewater Program
• Engineering, Hydrology and Geology Program
• Industrial Wastewater Program
• Mining and Mitigation Program
• NPDES Stormwater Program
• Oil and Gas Program
• Phosphate Management Program
• Source and Drinking Water Program
• Submerged Lands and Environmental Resources Coordination
• Water Compliance Enforcement Program

In Fiscal Year 2019-20, 97% of public water systems had no significant drinking water quality problems, compared to the legislatively approved performance standard of 94%.

Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience. The 2021 Legislature enacted Chapter 2021-28, Laws of Florida, which establishes the following statewide programs for adaptation to flooding and sea level rise:

• The Resilient Florida Grant Program within the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to provide grants to counties or municipalities for community resilience planning, such as vulnerability assessments, plan development, and projects to adapt critical assets.
• The Comprehensive Statewide Flood Vulnerability and Sea Level Rise Data Set, including statewide sea level rise projections, containing information necessary to determine the risks of flooding and sea level rise to inland and coastal communities.
• The Comprehensive Statewide Flood Vulnerability and Sea Level Rise Assessment to identify vulnerable infrastructure, geographic areas, and communities and including an inventory of critical assets.
• The Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan, consisting of ranked projects addressing the risks of flooding and sea level rise to communities in the state.

Other Reports
Annual Assessment of Florida's Water Resources and Conservation Lands 2020 Edition, Office of Economic and Demographic Research.

Final Integrated Water Quality Assessment for Florida: 2018 Sections 303(d), 305(b), and 314 Report and Listing Update, Department of Environmental Protection, June 2020.

Websites of Interest
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Performance measures and standards for the department may be found in its Long Range Program Plan.

Sections 20.255 and 379.2431, and Chs. 161, 369, 373, 376, 378, and 403, Florida Statutes.

The water resource management contacts website lists phone numbers for each division.
Website