The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General
Government
BILL: SB 734
INTRODUCER: Senator Polsky
SUBJECT: Saltwater Intrusion Vulnerability Assessments
DATE: March 14, 2023
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Barriero Rogers EN Favorable
2. Reagan Betta AEG Favorable
3. AP
I. Summary:
SB 734 amends the Resilient Florida Grant Program to authorize the Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) to provide grants to coastal counties to conduct vulnerability
assessments analyzing the effects of saltwater intrusion on their water supplies and the counties’
preparedness to respond to such threats, including water utility infrastructure, wellfield
protection, and freshwater supply management. Each vulnerability assessment must include:
The county’s primary water utilities;
Maps of the county’s freshwater wellfields and latest saltwater intrusion impact lines;
Projections of saltwater intrusion over the next decade; and
An analysis of the costs necessary to relocate freshwater wellfields anticipated to be
impacted.
The bill requires the DEP to use the information from counties’ saltwater intrusion vulnerability
assessments to update the Comprehensive Statewide Flood Vulnerability and Sea Level Rise
Data Set. The DEP must also make any appropriate information from the vulnerability
assessments available to the public on its website.
The bill requires the DEP to provide 50 percent cost-share funding, up to $250,000, for each
grant awarded. A county with a population of 50,000 or less is not required to contribute to the
cost share.
The DEP will incur indeterminate costs related to updating its comprehensive statewide flood
vulnerability and sea level rise data set with the information provided by counties in their
saltwater intrusion vulnerability assessments. The DEP will also incur indeterminate costs related
to making such information available to the public on its website.
The effective date of the bill is upon becoming a law.
REVISED: BILL: SB 734 Page 2
II. Present Situation:
Saltwater Intrusion
Drinking water in Florida comes primarily from water found within underground layers of
water-bearing rock or sand called aquifers.
1
Aquifers are composed of different types of
sediments and rocks, such as gravel, sandstone, and limestone.
2
Groundwater enters an aquifer as
precipitation seeps through the soil and can move through the aquifer and resurface through
springs and wells.
3
Fresh and salt water fill the holes in the rock, with freshwater generally filling
the uppermost part of aquifers and saltwater found at greater depths.
4
Where aquifer layers meet
the ocean (referred to as the freshwater/saltwater interface),
5
there is the risk of saltwater moving
inland and polluting the freshwater aquifers.
6
Under natural conditions, the seaward movement of freshwater prevents seawater from
encroaching coastal aquifers.
7
An interface between freshwater and seawater is maintained with
denser seawater underlying freshwater. When groundwater is pumped from a coastal aquifer,
lowered water levels can cause seawater to be drawn toward the freshwater zones of the aquifer.
The intruding seawater decreases the freshwater storage in the aquifers. Without treatment, this
groundwater does not conform to drinking water or agricultural water quality standards.
8
1
See South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers, https://storymaps.arcgis.
com/stories/3731671833e34567b783e9b881a8b36e (last visited Mar. 6, 2023); see also St. Johns River Water Management
District (SJRWMD), Florida’s Aquifers, https://www.sjrwmd.com/water-supply/aquifer/ (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
2
National Geographic, Aquifers, https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/aquifers/ (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
3
Id.
4
SJRWMD, Florida’s Aquifers, https://www.sjrwmd.com/water-supply/aquifer/ (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
5
Id.
6
SFWMD, Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3731671833e34567b783
e9b881a8b36e (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
7
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Sustainable Groundwater: Seawater Intrusion, https://ca.water.usgs.gov/sustainable-
groundwater-management/seawater-intrusion-california.html (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
8
USGS, Sustainable Groundwater: Seawater Intrusion, https://ca.water.usgs.gov/sustainable-groundwater-
management/seawater-intrusion-california.html (last visited Mar. 6, 2023). Brett A. Buzzanga, Old Dominion University,
Precipitation and Sea Level Rise Impacts on Groundwater Levels in Virginia Beach, Virginia, 12 (Fall 2017), available at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328225012_Precipitation_and_Sea_Level_Rise_Impacts_on_Groundwater_Levels_
in_Virginia_Beach_Virginia/download. BILL: SB 734 Page 3
Saltwater intrusion can occur in various ways, including lateral encroachment from coastal
waters and vertical movement of saltwater near discharging wells.
9
It can be caused by drilling
wells too deep, excessive groundwater pumping, sea level rise, severe drought, and other
factors.
10
Sources include infiltration from tidal marshes, estuaries, and bays, encroachment from
the ocean, leakage from unprotected canals, upward leakage from deeper aquifers, and
movement of residual saltwater.
11
Rising sea levels also push saltwater upstream in tidal rivers
and streams, raise coastal ground water tables, and push saltwater further inland.
12
Saltwater intrusion is problematic for several reasons. For example, potable water is necessary
for drinking, irrigation, and most industrial uses.
13
When an aquifer is contaminated by saltwater,
it must either be treated to remove the salt—a costly process—or another source of freshwater
must be found.
14
Public water supply utilities may shut down a well if it becomes too salty.
15
Utilities with wellfields near the freshwater/saltwater interface that do not have an inland
wellfield, have not developed alternative water supply sources, and have limited ability during a
drought to meet user needs through interconnects with other utilities are considered more
vulnerable.
16
Saltwater intrusion can also cause flooding.
17
Because saltwater is denser than freshwater, an
aquifer can become stratified with a layer of freshwater on top of a layer of denser saltwater
below. When sea level rise acts upon an aquifer like this, it can cause the freshwater layer to rise
in response. This can cause flooding as the top of the water, called the water table, gets closer to
ground surface.
18
In addition, saltwater intrusion can cause a decline in forest and agricultural productivity.
Saltwater degrades coastal wetlands and barrier islands, which buffer inland areas from storm
surge, by killing less salt-tolerant species and leaving behind “ghost forests” or wetland areas
9
USGS, Saltwater Intrusion, https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/saltwater-intrusion (last visited
Mar. 6, 2023).
10
University of Pennsylvania, The Water Center, Salt Intrusion: A Threat to Source Water Quality,
https://watercenter.sas.upenn.edu/salt-intrusion-a-threat-to-source-water-quality/ (last visited Mar. 6, 2023); USGS, Saltwater
Intrusion, https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/
saltwater-intrusion (last visited Mar. 6, 2023); SJRWMD, Florida’s Aquifers, https://www.sjrwmd.com/water-supply/aquifer/
(last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
11
SFWMD, Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3731671833e34567b783
e9b881a8b36e (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
12
Dep’t of Emergency Management, Enhanced State Hazard Mitigation Plan, 107-108 (2018), available at
https://www.floridadisaster.org/globalassets/dem/mitigation/mitigate-fl--shmp/shmp-2018-
full_final_approved.6.11.2018.pdf.
13
Id.; see also Scott Jasechko et al., Groundwater Level Observations in 250,000 Coastal US Wells Reveal Scope of Potential
Seawater Intrusion, 11 NATURE COMMUNICATIONS 3229 (2020), available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-
17038-2.
14
SFWMD, Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3731671833e34567b783e9b
881a8b36e (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
15
Id.; USGS, Saltwater Intrusion, https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/saltwater-intrusion (last
visited Mar. 6, 2023).
16
SFWMD, Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3731671833e34567b783e9b88
1a8b36e (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
17
Id.
18
Id. BILL: SB 734 Page 4
with only standing dead trees.
19
Over time, saltwater intrusion, along with rising sea levels,
convert these diverse wetland ecosystems into grass marshes and eventually into open water. The
loss in forest and agricultural productivity due to increased soil salinity results in decreased
ecosystem diversity and habitat for birds, fish, and the animals that prey on them.
20
Coastal counties with the following characteristics are particularly susceptible to lateral saltwater
intrusion:
21
Proximity to the ocean, inlets, and lagoons;
A large number of coastal wellfields;
Low land surface elevations (less than 10 feet above mean sea level);
Drainage canals that lower the water table, reducing the water pressure exerted against the
saltwater interface;
Canals without coastal water control structures to inhibit inland movement of seawater;
Rising sea levels.
22
Several assessments have been prepared regarding the impact of sea level rise on water
resources. For example, the South Florida Water Management District has evaluated saltwater
intrusion in the surficial aquifer system of the Big Cypress Basin and southwest Florida
23
and
mapped the saltwater interface in coastal aquifers within St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach,
Broward, Collier, and Lee counties.
24
The U.S. Geological Survey conducts saltwater interface
mapping for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
25
At least one evaluation of Florida’s saltwater
intrusion monitoring network has been performed.
26
The Northwest Florida Water Management
District has commissioned a report evaluating saltwater intrusion in the Floridan Aquifer in
Walton, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa counties.
27
Statewide Resilience Programs
The Legislature has established several statewide resilience programs, including:
The Resilient Florida Grant Program, which provides grants to counties or municipalities for
community resilience planning, including vulnerability assessments, plan development, and
19
U.S. Dep’t of Agriculture, Climate Hubs, Saltwater Intrusion, https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/taxonomy/term/399 (last
visited Mar. 6, 2023).
20
Id.
21
See SFWMD, Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3731671833e34567b783e9b88
1a8b36e (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
22
Id.
23
USGS, Saltwater Intrusion in the Surficial Aquifer System of the Big Cypress Basin, Southwest Florida, and a Proposed
Plan for Improved Salinity Monitoring: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2013-1088 (2013), available at
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2013/1088/ (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
24
SFWMD, Saltwater Interface Monitoring and Mapping Program, Technical Publication WS-58, 1 (2020), available at
https://www.sfwmd.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ws-58_swi_mapping_report_final.pdf (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
25
Id.
26
Scott T. Prinos, Saltwater Intrusion Monitoring in Florida, 79 FLORIDA SCIENTIST 4, 269 (Fall 2016), available at
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44113190.
27
HydroGeoLogic, Inc., Saltwater Intrusion in the Floridan Aquifer in Walton, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa Counties, Florida,
Eastern Model Domain, Final Report (Sept. 2007), available at https://nwfwater.com/content/download/19030/127812/
2007_09_HGL_R2_ED_model_final.pdf (Mar. 6, 2023). BILL: SB 734 Page 5
projects to adapt critical assets.
28
In the programs first two years, 263 implementation
projects have been awarded a total of nearly $954 million.
29
The Comprehensive Statewide Flood Vulnerability and Sea Level Rise Data Set and
Assessment.
30
By July 1, 2023, the DEP must develop a data set providing statewide sea
level rise projections and information necessary to determine the risks of flooding and sea
level rise to inland and coastal communities. By July 1, 2024, the DEP must develop a
statewide assessment (using the statewide data set) identifying vulnerable infrastructure,
geographic areas, and communities. The statewide assessment must include an inventory of
critical assets and be updated every five years.
31
The Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan, which consists of ranked
projects that address risks of flooding and sea level rise to coastal and inland communities.
32
Examples of projects include construction of living shorelines, seawalls, and pump stations,
elevation projects, and infrastructure hardening.
33
Counties, municipalities, water
management districts, regional water supply authorities, and other entities may submit to the
DEP an annual list of proposed projects. Each project must have a minimum 50 percent cost
share, unless the project assists or is within a financially disadvantaged community.
34
The
DEP ranks the projects using a four-tier scoring system.
35
The DEP has adopted rules to
implement s. 380.093, F.S., relating to the Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience
Plan and project submittal requirements. These rules can be found in chapter 62S-8 of the
Florida Administrative Code.
36
In December 2022, the DEP submitted the FY 23-24
Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan totaling nearly $408 million over the
next three years.
37
The Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation,
38
which was established within
the University of South Florida College of Marine Science to coordinate efforts between the
academic and research institutions of the state.
39
The Florida Flood Hub is tasked with,
28
Section 380.093(2)(a), F.S. “Critical asset” is defined to include broad lists of assets relating to transportation, critical
infrastructure, emergency facilities, natural resources, and historical and cultural resources.
29
This figure includes $270 million of state funding for the Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Resilience Plan. DEP,
Presentation to the Florida Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (Feb. 23, 2023), available at
https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/Show/SSHR/MeetingPacket/5700/10150_MeetingPacket_5700_2.23.23.pdf.
30
Section 380.093(4), F.S.
31
Id. See also DEP, Resilient Florida Program – Statewide Assessment, https://floridadep.gov/rcp/resilient-florida-
program/content/resilient-florida-program-statewide-assessment (last visited Mar. 7, 2023).
32
Section 380.093(5), F.S.
33
DEP, 2022-2023 Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan, available at
https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/FY22.23%20Statewide%20Flooding%20and%20Sea%20Level%20Rise%20Resilien
ce%20Plan_0.pdf.
34
Section 380.093(5)(e), F.S. A financially disadvantaged small community is a municipality with a population of 10,000 or
fewer, or a county with a population of 50,000 or fewer, where the per capita annual income is less than the state’s per capita
annual income. Id.
35
Section 380.093(5)(h), F.S.
36
Fla. Admin. Code Chapter 62S-8, available at https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/Final%20Rule%20Language_0.pdf.
37
DEP and Florida Statewide Office of Resilience, 2022 Flood Resilience and Mitigation Efforts Across Florida, 9, available
at
https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/2022%20Flood%20Resilience%20and%20Mitigation%20Efforts%20Report%20Onl
y_0.pdf
38
See University of South Florida College of Marine Science, Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation:
Overview, https://www.usf.edu/marine-science/research/florida-flood-hub-for-applied-research-and-innovation/ (last visited
Mar. 7, 2023).
39
Section 380.0933(1), F.S. BILL: SB 734 Page 6
among other things, organizing existing data needs for comprehensive statewide flood
vulnerability and sea level rise analyses and performing gap analyses to determine data
needs; developing statewide open source hydrologic models for physically based flood
frequency estimation and real-time forecasting of flood; establishing community-based
programs to improve flood monitoring and prediction along major waterways; and providing
tidal and storm surge flooding data to counties and municipalities for vulnerability
assessments.
40
The DEP may also provide funding for regional resilience entities to assist local governments
with planning for the resilience needs of communities and coordinating intergovernmental
solutions to mitigate adverse impacts of flooding and sea level rise.
41
To date, $4 million has
been appropriated to regional resilience entities.
42
In 2022, the Statewide Office of Resilience was created within the Executive Office of the
Governor for the purpose of reviewing all flood resilience and mitigation activities in the state
and coordinating flood resilience and mitigation efforts with federal, state, and local
governmental entities and other stakeholders. The office’s Chief Resilience Officer and the DEP
worked together to provide the Governor and the Legislature with a report on flood resilience
and mitigation efforts across Florida. The report includes:
A list of local governments that are required to comply with the requirements of
s. 163.3178(2)(f), F.S.,
43
but are not in compliance, as reported by the Department of
Economic Opportunity;
A list of local governments that have completed vulnerability assessments in compliance
with the requirements of the Resilient Florida grant program in s. 380.093(3), F.S.;
44
An overview of the geographic distribution of entities with funded projects in the Statewide
Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan;
45
and
A statewide inventory of basin-level flooding assessments and other related basin-level
planning efforts self-reported by water management districts or special districts authorized to
submit projects pursuant to s. 380.093(5), F.S.
46
40
Section 380.0933(2) and (3), F.S.
41
Section 380.093(6), F.S.
42
DEP, Presentation to the Florida Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, 18 (Feb. 23, 2023), available
at https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/Show/SSHR/MeetingPacket/5700/10150_MeetingPacket_5700_2.23.23.pdf.
43
Section 163.3178(2)(f), F.S., requires local coastal governments to include a redevelopment component within their
comprehensive plans’ coastal management element, which outlines the principles that must be used to eliminate inappropriate
and unsafe development in the coastal areas when opportunities arise. See DEP and Florida Statewide Office of Resilience,
2022 Flood Resilience and Mitigation Efforts Across Florida, 2, available at
https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/2022%20Flood%20Resilience%20and%20Mitigation%20Efforts%20Report%20Onl
y_0.pdf; Letter from Department of Economic Opportunity to DEP, 1-2 (Nov. 9, 2022), available at
https://floridadep.gov/DEO_PoF_Letter2022.
44
DEP and Florida Statewide Office of Resilience, 2022 Flood Resilience and Mitigation Efforts Across Florida, 3, available
at
https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/2022%20Flood%20Resilience%20and%20Mitigation%20Efforts%20Report%20Onl
y_0.pdf
45
Id. at 7-9.
46
Id. at 10-12. BILL: SB 734 Page 7
Coastal Counties
Florida has 35 coastal counties.
47
The following seven coastal counties have populations less than 50,000 as of April 2022:
48
Gulf (15,938)
Franklin (12,729)
Wakulla (35,169)
Jefferson (14,923)
Taylor (21,375)
Dixie (16,988)
Levy (44,288)
III. Effect of Proposed Changes:
Section 1 amends the Resilient Florida Grant Program, s. 380.093, F.S., to authorize the DEP,
beginning July 1, 2024, to provide grants to coastal counties to conduct vulnerability assessments
analyzing the effects of saltwater intrusion on their water supplies and preparedness to respond to
such threats, including water utility infrastructure, wellfield protection, and freshwater supply
management.
47
DEP, Map of Florida’s Coastal Counties, https://floridadep.gov/rcp/fcmp/documents/map-floridas-coastal-counties and
https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/CPI-coastal-Florida-map.pdf (last visited Mar. 6, 2023).
48
Office of Economic and Demographic Research, Florida Population Estimates by County and Municipality as of April 1,
2022, available at http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/population-demographics/data/2022_Pop_Estimates.pdf (last visited Mar. 6,
2023). BILL: SB 734 Page 8
Each vulnerability assessment must include all of the following information:
The county’s primary water utilities;
Current maps of the county’s freshwater wellfields and latest saltwater intrusion impact lines;
Projections of saltwater intrusion over the next decade, including specific wells that may be
impacted during that timeframe; and
An analysis of the costs necessary to relocate freshwater wellfields that are anticipated to be
impacted, including current projects that are underway to relocate the freshwater wellfields.
The bill requires the DEP to use the information from the vulnerability assessments to update its
Comprehensive Statewide Flood Vulnerability and Sea Level Rise Data Set. The DEP must also
make any appropriate information from the assessment available to the public on its website.
The bill also requires the DEP to provide 50 percent cost-share funding, up to $250,000, for each
grant awarded under this section of the Resilient Florida Grant Program. A county with a
population of 50,000 or less is not required to contribute to the cost share.
Section 2 provides that the act will take effect upon becoming a law.
IV. Constitutional Issues:
A. Municipality/County Mandates Restrictions:
None.
B. Public Records/Open Meetings Issues:
None.
C. Trust Funds Restrictions:
None.
D. State Tax or Fee Increases:
None.
E. Other Constitutional Issues:
None.
V. Fiscal Impact Statement:
A. Tax/Fee Issues:
None. BILL: SB 734 Page 9
B. Private Sector Impact:
None.
C. Government Sector Impact:
The DEP may incur costs related to updating its comprehensive statewide flood
vulnerability and sea level rise data set with the information provided by counties in their
saltwater intrusion vulnerability assessments. The DEP may also incur costs related to
making such information available to the public on its website.
VI. Technical Deficiencies:
None.
VII. Related Issues:
None.
VIII. Statutes Affected:
This bill substantially amends s. 380.093 of the Florida Statutes.
IX. Additional Information:
A. Committee Substitute – Statement of Changes:
(Summarizing differences between the Committee Substitute and the prior version of the bill.)
None.
B. Amendments:
None.
This Senate Bill Analysis does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill’s introducer or the Florida Senate.