Senate committee ratifies DEP rules for MFLs in Suwannee and St. Johns districts amid spring-recovery concerns
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Summary
The committee favorably reported SPB 7034, a rule-ratification bill replacing Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs) and implementation strategies for the Suwannee and St. Johns River water districts. Testimony focused on dependence on the JEA Water First project, funding gaps and long restoration timelines.
Committee members considered SPB 7034, a committee bill to ratify Department of Environmental Protection rules that replace previously adopted Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs) and an associated implementation strategy for the Suwannee River and St. Johns River water management districts.
Senator Rodriguez explained that the new rule removes a 2015 limit on permit durations (previously capped at five years absent offsets) and would allow longer permits—up to 20 years or longer—potentially lowering financing costs for utilities. Senator Smith pressed whether the proposal limits current consumptive uses; she was told it does not impose new immediate consumptive-use limits but relies on conservation practices, monitoring and offsets to protect priority springs and river reaches.
Multiple public commenters sharply criticized aspects of the rule. Ryan Smart of the Florida Springs Council said the Santa Fe and Ichetucknee recovery strategy depends on the single JEA Water First project to pump "40,000,000 gallons a day" of treated wastewater and that the rule, as written, contains no requirement that utilities pay for the project; he warned completion would likely require "hundreds of millions" in state reserves and could take decades. Local riparian owners and river advocates—including Rick Lanise of Santa Fe River Inc., Jody Bose of Our Santa Fe River, and Mary Lee Jipson—said the plan delays meaningful restoration, raised PFAS and water-quality concerns about importing treated wastewater, and urged tighter near-term protections such as shorter permit durations.
Supporters including the Clay County Utility Authority and DEP (Alex Cronin waived in support) said the rule provides a mechanism to move forward with recovery while allowing further refinement and potential amendments. Senator Harrell moved that SPB 7034 be submitted as a committee bill; without objection the motion was adopted and SPB 7034 was reported favorably as a committee bill.
The hearing highlighted a divide between river advocates urging immediate, enforceable limits and industry/utility interests prioritizing long-term projects and permitting certainty; funding and the timeline for restoration were focal concerns that were not fully resolved in committee.
