Resolution 205-1995
F!LFO !, Jh \:~ f~():kFsOLUTION NO. 205-1995
A RMo~ m St]pPORT OF PROPOSED AMENDMENTS
TO THE STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTaCimON REGULATIONS REQUIRING UNDERGROUND INJECTION
WEL.~.m-r~!F.~A KEYS TO DEMONSTRATE COMPLIANCE WITH
su~l!~ wX.1ffiR 'Qtr~ITY STANDARDS.
WHEREAS, Monroe County is home to 87,000 residents and approximately 5,000,000
annual visitors who work and play in the beautiful waters of the Florida Keys; and
WHEREAS, the Florida Keys is also home to North America's only living coral barrier
reef which is a fragile, interdependent ecosystem comprised of many diverse, sensitive and
symbiotic organisms, including coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass; and
WHEREAS, the economic health of the Florida Keys is based on water-related tourism
and commercial fishing and depends on a healthy marine environment; and
WHEREAS, sewage and human waste disposal is an on-going and evolving
environmental concern addressed by a combination of local, state and federal programs; and
WHEREAS, the State of Florida, Department of Environmental Protection issues permits
to discharge sewage effluent into shallow injection wells in the Florida Keys; and
WHEREAS, the current Florida Administrative Code Chapter 62-528 does not recognize
the connection which exists between groundwater and surface waters in the Florida Keys; and
WHEREAS, over 750 injection wells discharge a total daily average of 2.3 million
gallons of treated sewage waste into the groundwater of the Florida Keys; and
WHEREAS, recent studies have indicated the movement of injection well effluent from
groundwater to both nearshore and offshore waters of the Florida Keys; and
WHEREAS, this effluent may directly result in a violation of surface water quality or
be contributing to secondary and cumulative degradation of Outstanding Florida Waters as
defined in Florida Administrative Code Rule 62-528.300(I)(e)(3); and
WHEREAS, this underground injection of sewage effluent, if not adequately addressed,
could result in risk to the human population, coral barrier reef ecosystems and economic well
being of the Keys; and
WHEREAS, increased nutrients and bacteria, indicated by the presence of fecal coliform,
in surface waters of the Florida Keys resulting from these activities may result in degradation
of water quality in the Outstanding Florida Waters of the Florida Keys (Florida Administrative
Code Chapter 62-302); and
WHEREAS, the Environmental Regulation Commission (ERC) is currently considering
proposed rule changes for the Underground Injection Control Program; and
WHEREAS, Reef Relief has sponsored an amendment which the ERC will consider at
the ERC's June 22, 1995 meeting to require that an applicant for an injection well provide
"Reasonable assurance that operation of the injection well will not cause or contribute to a
violation of surface water standards as defined in Chapter 62.302"; and
NOW THEREFORE, it is RESOLVED that the Monroe County Board of County
Commissioners hereby strongly recommends that the Environmental Regulation Commission
adopt the following language requiring injection well permit applicants to demonstrate continuing
compliance with water quality standards for surface waters in the Florida Keys:
"In the Florida Keys, permit applicants shall also provide reasonable assurance that
operation of the injection well will not cause or contribute to a violation of surface water
quality standards as defined in F.A.C. Chapter 62-302 and permits shall contain a site-
specific monitoring plan to ensure continued compliance with surface water quality
standards. "
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County,
Florida, at a regular meeting of the Board held on the 1L- day of JUNE
, 1995, A.D"
1995.
Mayor Freeman YES
YES
Mayor Pro-tern London
YES
Commissioner Harvey
Commissioner Douglass YES
Commissioner Reich YES
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA
c:S~-j;WWAA..v
BY:
MA R/CHAIRMAN
(SEAL)
ATIEST: DANNY L. KOLHAGE, CLERK
~cJ.J. t. ~A~
DEPUTY CLERK'