The Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration works with department divisions, Water Management Districts, other state agencies, local government, the federal government, the private sector, and stakeholders to identify and reduce the impact of human activities on water quality and restore waters that have already been identified as impaired.

The Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration implements a comprehensive suite of activities, including the establishment of water quality standards, water quality monitoring, assessing natural bodies of water for pollution, developing and implementing restoration plans, and providing the department and other agencies with laboratory services. It is organized into the following major programs.

• Algal Bloom Monitoring and Response
• Bioassessment Program
• Florida DEP Laboratory
• Florida Stormwater, Erosion, and Sedimentation Control Inspector Training and Certification Program
• Quality Assurance
• Regional Operation Centers
• Water Quality Assessment Program
• Water Quality Evaluation and TMDL Program
• Water Quality Restoration Program
• Water Quality Standards
• Water Quality Standards Program
• Watershed Assessment Section
• Watershed Monitoring
• Watershed Services Program

A watershed is an area of land that water from rainfall and snowmelt flows across before it drains into a common body of water, like a stream, river, lake, or ocean. Watersheds range in size from a small inland stream or lake to thousands of square miles. The water may pick up pollutants while it is flowing towards the larger body of water. The division has organized these watersheds into 29 groups of basins. As of May 2022, the division assessed 4,187 of Florida's 6,682 discrete watershed segments and identified 2,031 as "impaired" (not meeting water quality standards) as a result of a variety of pollutants, including nutrients and bacteria.

Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is a scientific determination of the maximum amount of a given pollutant that a surface water can absorb and still meet water quality standards are identified as "impaired" for the particular pollutants of concern and TMDLs must be developed, adopted, and implemented to reduce those pollutants and clean up the water body. The division has adopted a total of 454 TMDLs and 33 Basin Management Action Plans which cover more than 13 million watershed acres.

In Fiscal Year 2021-22, 77% (± 4.9%) of monitored groundwater wells reflected good water quality (no exceedances of ground water quality standards) compared to the 85% legislatively approved performance standard. However, results for large lakes and rivers varied during that fiscal year. During that time, the percentage of large lakes that met priority water quality criteria for total nitrogen, total phosphorous, and dissolved oxygen were 90.1% (± 1.7%), 67.4% (±4.0%), and 98.1% (± 0.7%), respectively, compared to the legislatively approved performance standards of 85%, 70%, and 95%, respectively. Also during the same time period, the percentage of rivers that met priority water quality criteria for total nitrogen, total phosphorous, and dissolved oxygen were 78.3% (± 1.6%), 88.6% (± 1.4%), and 93.7% (± 1.5%), respectively, compared to the legislatively approved performance standards of 70%, 82%, and 95%, respectively.

Environmental Protection. The 2023 Legislature enacted Ch. 2023-169, Laws of Florida, which, among other provisions, 

• prohibits the installation of new onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems within a BMAP area or other plan where connection to publicly owned or investor-owned sewerage system is available;
• requires the installation of enhanced nutrient-reducing onsite sewerage system or other wastewater treatment systems that achieve a least 65 percent nitrogen reduction on lots of one acre of less within areas where a publicly owned or investor-owned sewerage system is not available;
• authorizes the Department of Environmental Protection to provide grants for projects that reduce the amount of nutrients entering the water;
• requires the department, relevant local governments, and relevant local public and private wastewater utilities, as part of a BMAP that includes an Outstanding Florida Spring, to develop an onsite sewage treatment and disposal system remediation plan for a spring if the department determines remediation is necessary to achieve a total maximum daily load; and
• establishes the Indian River Lagoon Protection Program within the department with plans to achieve phosphorus and nitrogen load reductions for the Indian River Lagoon.

Other Reports
Water Quality Surface Water Monitoring Events, 2023, Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, March and April 2023
2022 Integrated Water Quality Assessment for Florida: Sections 303(d), 305(b), and 314 Report and Listing Update, Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration Florida Department of Environmental Protection, April 2022
2020 Florida Statewide Annual Report (Interactive), Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, November 2021
Study of Select Lakes for Wastewater Inputs, Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, August 2021

Websites of Interest
Department of Environmental Protection News and Press Releases
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Performance Information

Section 20.255 and Ch. 403, Florida Statutes

Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration, 850-245-2118
Website