Polk County Impaired Waters
A Map Tour of the Impaired Waters in Polk County
What are Impairments?
The Clean Water Act (CWA) was passed by Congress in 1972. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforces the CWA, which puts requirements on the States to protect water quality.
Section 303(d) of the CWA requires states to submit to EPA lists of waters that do not meet applicable water quality standards, to identify pollutant(s) that are causing or are expected to cause impairment, and to establish and implement plans to address these pollutants on a prioritized schedule.
The State of Florida is responsible for demonstrating compliance with the CWA, and Florida codifies its water quality rules in Chapter 62-303 of the Florida Administrative Code (FAC). The Florida Impaired Waters Rule (IWR) establishes a methodology to identify those waters that will be included on the State's "Section 303(d) list" of impaired waters that is reported to the EPA.
The Watershed Assessment Section (WAS) is the branch of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) that designs monitoring plans and collects water quality and biological data in order to determine whether water bodies are meeting the water quality standards defined in Chapter 62-302 of the Florida Administrative Code .
The EPA has established its own pollutant limits, separate from FDEP's, for many Florida waterways. These limits, called “TMDLs” (see below) are enforced via compliance with municipal stormwater permits.
When monitoring shows that a pollutant exceeds the allowable limit defined in the FAC, the WAS deems it "impaired" for that pollutant, adds it to the "303(d) List" and the "Verified List" (see below) and assigns it an impairment status. Updates to the 303(d) list are submitted to the EPA annually.
When waters are determined to be impaired, a “Total Maximum Daily Load” (TMDL) may be established as a first step in addressing the impairment. A TMDL document provides a science-based determination of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can absorb and still meet water quality standards. Florida’s surface water quality standards are given in Rule 62-302 of the FAC .
Polk Impairments
Polk County Impaired WBIDs Listed or Delisted by Year
Polk Impaired WBIDs Listed and Delisted through Time
Alafia River Watershed
Hillsborough River Watershed
Kissimmee River Watersheds
Upper Ocklawaha Watershed
Peace River Watershed
Withlacoochee River Watershed
Additional Categories
A waterbody can be placed in the 4e category if it's impaired, but recently completed restoration activities to restore the designated uses of the waterbody.
Polk County has 10 waterbodies in the 4e category.
Basin Management Action Plan is a framework for water quality restoration that contains local and state commitments to reduce pollutant loading through current and future projects and strategies.
WBID 1482 is a part of the Hillsborough River Basin BMAP .
WBIDs 1552, 1583, and 1693 are a part of the Alafia River Basin BMAP .
WBIDs 1406, 1406A, 2889, 2889A, 2889B, 2889C, 2890, and 2890A are a part of the Upper Ocklawaha BMAP .
The Western area of Polk County is a part of the Lake Okeechobee BMAP.
