l    Wetland Conservation  ($310,000) 

EPA and the Army Corps are implementing a wetlands conservation, permitting, and mitigation strategy that includes interagency mechanisms to coordinate the permitting and mitigation planning needed to implement the existing regulatory programs with the greatest efficiency in the face of intense pressure to develop increasingly small parcels, many with wetland impacts.  EPA has dedicated two staff associated with its South Florida Office to participate in this work.

 l   Task Force Support ($300,000)

This activity includes the time of staff in the South Florida Office, EPA’s Atlanta Regional Office, and EPA Headquarters associated with participation in the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force and its working groups.   It also includes the Staff time associated with the administration of grants that support activities included in the restoration effort. 

l    Water Permit Compliance and Enforcement ($1,309,000) 

Compliance and enforcement activities for existing regulatory requirements play an important role in the prevention of further degradation in the South Florida ecosystem.  For this reason, these resources will be devoted to provide technical assistance to help ensure compliance with permits and to provide prompt and thorough attention to enforcement when it is needed.

l    Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Water Quality Protection Plan ($35,000)

The 1990 Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuaries and Protection Act requires EPA, in conjunction with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the State of Florida to both plan and implement a Water Quality Protection Program that includes research, monitoring, waste source reduction, and public education.

Remediation of nutrient impacts on the near-shore waters of the Keys continues to be a project focus, although the continuing ecosystem management program also includes  monitoring to confirm the status of the ecological conditions there, and research into the mechanisms of pollutant flows and interactions.

Detailed monitoring, and data management plans are being implemented. (See discussion below.)

l      Water Quality Plan ($275,000) 

The South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, has identified the urgent need to restore more natural water flows to the Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. Restoring the flows, however will not achieve the desired goals if the quality of the diverted water is inadequate to sustain the natural system of the areas we want to restore and protect.  The Task Force has requested the preparation of a Water Quality Plan to identify where water quality is a concern and to propose actions to restore and protect it in these areas.

The Water Quality Plan is designed to contain components (some already underway) that contribute information needed by other elements of the Task Force work. It expects that other related activities will provide useful assistance in preparing the Plan through a process of close coordination.  

l     Urban Needs ($75,000) 

Urban issues in South Florida include a rapidly expanding human population competing for resources with the Everglade's natural systems, generating pollutant loading to coastal and inland waters via stormwater runoff, and rapid urban development westward toward the remaining Everglades.

EPA activities are directed at reducing unsustainable westward sprawl by redirecting future growth into appropriate areas, many within the urban corridor.  Activities include developing appropriate incentives that assist local governments and other parties to implement revitalization strategies that encourage infill development and redevelopment in the region's urban core with emphasis in those areas served by existing infrastructure.

l    Mercury Studies ($50,000)

Mercury Studies will augment past and on going research by examining the means of reducing mercury’s risks to the environment.

l    South Florida Office ($440,000)

EPA’s South Florida Office provides the core of EPA participation in Task Force activities.  These include the coordination of section 404 and Stormwater Treatment Area permits associated with the Everglades Construction Project, staff to support section 404 dredge and fill permitting, the development of a Water Quality Implementation Plan, liaison with the Governor's Commission on the Everglades, coordination with the C&SF Restudy including the discussion of the role of aquifer storage and recovery, studies of mercury and procedures for the development of phosphorus criteria, an Urban Initiative, and implementation of South Florida waste management programs.

l    Data Management ($60,000) 

The data needs of South Florida are being addressed in conjunction with the Florida Marine Resources Research Institute (FMRI) which is coordinating data management for the State, and certain Federal agencies.  Under this initiative, FMRI is working with agencies to produce an information library to locate and catalog the data collected from major current studies of the South Florida Ecosystem, provide geographic information useful in future studies, and provide information to the public using data resources retained by FMRI.  The Internet is used to convey information to the public and to link FMRI with other data repositories.

A major part of this demonstration involves FMRI's piloting the use of an early version of EPA's modernized STORET water quality data base, which the State of Florida has  used for years.

l    Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Water Quality Protection Plan Monitoring (Monitoring elements, $1,233,000)

The 1990 Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuaries and Protection Act requires EPA, in conjunction with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the State of Florida to both plan and implement a Water Quality Protection Program that includes research, monitoring, waste source reduction, and public education. (See above.)  

l    Mercury Risk Assessment ($75,000) 

Mercury contamination of Everglades biota is an issue of great concern.  The entire Everglades and Big Cypress region has a human health fish consumption advisory posted.  Species such as the endangered Florida panther and wading birds may also be at increased risk.  A coordinated, multi-agency scientific effort is underway to define the mercury contamination, and elucidate the source and environmental conditions that result in bioaccumulation.  These efforts must continue in order to assess the nature and extent of mercury contamination over various Everglades water conditions (wet years, dry years), develop a mass balance of mercury movement through the system, identify appropriate management or regulatory strategies, and assess their effectiveness by monitoring over time.

l    Water Quality and Habitat Protection Research ($269,800)

These resources address the effects of phosphorus on surrounding open water and upland coastal systems; of UV-B, infectious diseases, and nutrient enrichment on corals; and of endocrine disrupting compounds on certain wildlife species.  In addition, EPA maintains a monitoring station to measure ambient levels of UV-B in the Everglades National Park.  

l    Programmatic Environmental Impact Assessment ($100,000)

The Environmental Protection Agency participates in the preparation of various  Environmental Impact Statements concerning south Florida.

The Environmental Protection Agency also provides funding to the State of Florida to support activities in this category under grants authorized by the Clean Water Act to capitalize loans for the construction of municipal wastewater treatment plants and for other pollution reduction projects.  The State of Florida supports important projects in South Florida from this fund, but the amount varies as it adjusts the available funding to project needs across the state.