DEP says $2.9 billion appropriated for water projects since 2018; dashboard and award decisions coming

Adam Blaylock, deputy secretary for ecosystems restoration at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, told the Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government that the department has received approximately $2.9 billion in appropriations for water‑quality improvement projects since 2018 and is implementing nearly 1,100 projects the department attributes to those appropriations.

Blaylock said the funding has supported several grant programs: the Water Quality Improvement Grant (the department's largest program), the Indian River Lagoon program, the Biscayne Bay grant program, the Springs grant program, alternative water supply projects and the Resilient Florida grant program. He described project types covered by the Water Quality Improvement Grant, including advanced wastewater treatment upgrades, septic-to-sewer conversions, stormwater projects and an expanded ability to fund Cooperative Agricultural Regional Water Quality Improvement Projects.

Blaylock said the Water Quality Improvement Grant has funded projects that the department reports will reduce nitrogen and phosphorus loads; in his presentation he cited reductions described as roughly 4,600,000 pounds per year of nitrogen and 893,000 pounds per year of total phosphorus attributed across grant programs (transcript used pound-symbol notation). He said $1.1 billion has been appropriated to the Water Quality Improvement Grant since 2019 and that these projects include large wastewater upgrades that take time to design and build.

The department is finalizing a publicly accessible dashboard, Blaylock said, to show each funded project, grant amount, estimated nutrient reductions and project status. The dashboard was required by statute by July 1; Blaylock said DEP is completing quality assurance and expects to publish the tool before that statutory date. He also described a separate portal to centralize water‑quality monitoring data across agencies and partners, beginning with the Indian River Lagoon and later expanding to Biscayne Bay, Tampa Bay and other watersheds.

On the award timeline for the current Water Quality Improvement Grant cycle, Blaylock said the department closed applications after a roughly 60‑day portal window and is now scoring and verifying eligibility and nutrient‑reduction estimates. He said the department received nearly 400 applications requesting about $2.2 billion while available funding this cycle was roughly $200,000,000, and staff must verify nutrient‑reduction claims before making awards. When asked, Blaylock said staff are "doing the final assessment" and that the department aims to make awards in the near future but could not guarantee a date.

Committee discussion covered septic‑to‑sewer needs and costs in South Florida. Leader Pizzo described municipalities where large shares of properties remain on septic systems and urged broader, regionally coordinated investment rather than piecemeal member projects. DEP staff said septic‑to‑sewer hookup costs vary widely by community but estimated a typical range of $20,000 to $50,000 per household, with an average cited near $35,000 where full hookups are required.

Blaylock said funding criteria emphasize projects that are cost‑effective, shovel‑ready and located where ecological response is expected to be largest. He described recent investments in Indian River Lagoon and Biscayne Bay and summarized the Springs, Alternative Water Supply and Resilient Florida grant program outputs, including reclaimed water, stormwater capacity and vulnerable‑asset planning grants.

When committee members asked for an award schedule relative to local funding requests, Blaylock said the department is close to completing evaluation but would not commit to a firm date. He encouraged municipalities to prepare LFIR (local funding initiative request) materials in parallel in case grant awards do not meet project needs.

Blaylock closed by thanking the committee and noting the department will continue to refine the dashboard and data portal to improve public transparency on grant awards and monitoring data.