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 Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
BILL: SB 298
INTRODUCER: Senator Polsky
SUBJECT: Saltwater Intrusion Vulnerability Assessments
DATE: December 5, 2023
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Barriero Rogers EN Pre-meeting
2. FP
I. Summary:
SB 298 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
preparedness to respond to such a threat. Each vulnerability assessment must include an analysis
of all of the following information:
The coastal county’s primary water utilities;
Current maps of the coastal 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
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 also requires DEP to do all of the following:
Use the information contained in a coastal county’s saltwater intrusion vulnerability
assessment to update its Comprehensive Statewide Flood Vulnerability and Sea Level Rise
Data Set;
Make publicly available on DEP’s website any appropriate information from a saltwater
intrusion vulnerability assessment it receives from coastal counties; and
Provide 50 percent cost-share funding up to $250,000 for each grant awarded under this
section of the Resilient Florida Grant Program. A coastal county with a population of 50,000
or less is not required to contribute to the cost share.
REVISED: BILL: SB 298 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
Under natural conditions, the seaward movement of freshwater prevents seawater from
encroaching coastal aquifers.
5
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.
6
Saltwater intrusion can occur in various ways, including lateral encroachment from coastal
waters and vertical movement of saltwater near discharging wells.
7
It can be caused by digging
1
See University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Central Florida’s Water Resources,
https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/osceolaco/2019/12/06/central-floridas-water-
resources/#:~:text=Groundwater%20Over%2090,porous%20rocks%20that%20holds%20water (last visited Nov. 16, 2023);
see also St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), Florida’s Aquifers, https://www.sjrwmd.com/water-
supply/aquifer/ (last visited Nov. 16, 2023).
2
National Geographic, Aquifers, https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/aquifers/ (last visited Nov. 16, 2023).
3
Id.
4
SJRWMD, Florida’s Aquifers, https://www.sjrwmd.com/water-supply/aquifer/ (last visited Nov. 16, 2023).
5
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Sustainable Groundwater: Seawater Intrusion, https://ca.water.usgs.gov/sustainable-
groundwater-management/seawater-intrusion-california.html (last visited Nov. 16, 2023).
6
Id.; see also 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.
7
USGS, Saltwater Intrusion, https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/saltwater-intrusion (last visited
Nov. 16, 2023). BILL: SB 298 Page 3
wells too deep, excessive groundwater pumping, sea level rise, severe drought,
8
king tides, and
storm surge.
9
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.
10
Rising sea levels also push saltwater upstream in tidal rivers
and streams, raise coastal ground water tables, and push saltwater further inland.
11
Saltwater intrusion can cause serious consequences in terms of both environmental and economic
impacts. Potable water is necessary for drinking, irrigation, and most industrial uses,
12
but the
intrusion of saltwater into coastal aquifers can increase groundwater salinity beyond potable
levels, endangering access to freshwater for millions of people.
13
Even small changes in salinity
can render water undrinkable—chloride concentrations above 250 milligrams per liter (salinity
of approximately 0.5 parts per thousand) can cause hypertension and stroke.
14
Saltwater intrusion can also negatively affect local agriculture. The vast majority of
commercially grown tropical fruits and vegetables and most landscape ornamental plants have
little to no salinity tolerance.
15
Saline soil and/or salty irrigation water can result in mild to lethal
physiological effects, including reduced cell growth and plant organ (e.g., leaf and fruit)
expansion, reduced water and nutrient uptake, nutrient imbalances and deficiencies, reduced
plant growth and yields, and plant death.
16
This results in increased production costs and
decreased product sales.
17
In addition, saltwater intrusion can cause a decline in forest 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 with only standing dead
trees.
18
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
8
USGS, Saltwater Intrusion, https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/
saltwater-intrusion (last visited Nov. 16, 2023); SJRWMD, Florida’s Aquifers, https://www.sjrwmd.com/water-
supply/aquifer/ (last visited Nov. 16, 2023).
9
UF/IFAS, Saltwater intrusion and flooding: Risks to South Florida’s agriculture and potential management practices,
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AE572 (last visited Nov. 16, 2023).
10
USGS, Saltwater Intrusion in the Surficial Aquifer System of the Big Cypress Basin, Southwest Florida, and a Proposed
Plan for Improved Salinity Monitoring, 9 (2013), available at https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2013/1088/pdf/ofr2013-1088.pdf.
11
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.
12
Id.
13
Scott Jasechko et al., Groundwater level observations in 250,000 coastal US wells reveal scope of potential seawater
intrusion, 2 (2020), available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17038-2.
14
Kate Tully et al., The Invisible Flood: The Chemistry, Ecology, and Social Implications of Coastal Saltwater Intrusion,
369-70 (2019), available at https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/69/5/368/5487218.
15
UF/IFAS, Saltwater intrusion and flooding: Risks to South Florida’s agriculture and potential management practices,
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AE572 (last visited Nov. 16, 2023).
16
Id.; see also Ilias Siarkos et al., A methodological framework to assess the environmental and economic effects of injection
barriers against seawater intrusion, 1 (2017), available at
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030147971730169X.
17
Id.
18
U.S. Dep’t of Agriculture, Climate Hubs, Saltwater Intrusion, https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/taxonomy/term/399 (last
visited Nov. 16, 2023). BILL: SB 298 Page 4
birds, fish, and the animals that prey on them.
19
Moreover, studies show that salt buildup in the
soil increases greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change and global warming.
20
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
21
and
mapped the saltwater interface in coastal aquifers within St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach,
Broward, Collier, and Lee counties.
22
The U.S. Geological Survey conducts saltwater interface
mapping for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
23
At least one evaluation of Florida’s saltwater
intrusion monitoring network has been performed.
24
In addition, the Northwest Florida Water
Management District has commissioned a report evaluating saltwater intrusion in the Floridan
Aquifer in Walton, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa counties.
25
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
projects to adapt critical assets.
26
In the programs first two years, 263 implementation
projects have been awarded a total of nearly $954 million.
27
The Comprehensive Statewide Flood Vulnerability and Sea Level Rise Data Set and
Assessment.
28
In May 2023, DEP published a statewide data set containing an inventory of
critical and regionally significant assets (such as transportation, critical infrastructure and
emergency facilities), topographical data (including digital elevation models and survey
data), and flood scenario data (including data regarding precipitation, land use, and
groundwater elevation).
29
DEP is also tasked with developing a statewide assessment
providing statewide sea level rise projections and information necessary to determine the
risks of flooding and sea level rise to inland and coastal communities. DEP must update the
19
Id.
20
UF/IFAS, Saltwater intrusion and flooding: Risks to South Florida’s agriculture and potential management practices,
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AE572 (last visited Nov. 16, 2023).
21
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/.
22
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.
23
Id.
24
Scott T. Prinos, Saltwater Intrusion Monitoring in Florida, 79 FLORIDA SCIENTIST 4, 269 (Fall 2016), available at
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44113190.
25
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.
26
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.
27
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.
28
Section 380.093(4), F.S.
29
DEP, Resilient Florida Program – Statewide Assessment, https://floridadep.gov/rcp/resilient-florida-
program/content/resilient-florida-program-statewide-assessment (last visited Nov. 16, 2023). BILL: SB 298 Page 5
data set and assessment every five years.
30
The statewide assessment and data set must 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
DEP an annual list of proposed projects. In December 2022, DEP submitted the FY 23-24
Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan totaling nearly $408 million over the
next three years.
34
The Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation,
35
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.
36
The Florida Flood Hub is tasked with,
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.
37
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.
38
As of February 2023, $4 million had
been appropriated to regional resilience entities to date.
39
30
Section 380.093(4), F.S. See also DEP, Resilient Florida Program – Statewide Assessment,
https://floridadep.gov/rcp/resilient-florida-program/content/resilient-florida-program-statewide-assessment (last visited Nov.
16 2023).
31
Section 380.093(4)(c), F.S.
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; DEP, 2023-2024 Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan, available at
https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Statewide-Flooding-and-Sea-Level-Rise-Resilience-Plan_Grant-
List_07122023.pdf.
34
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; see also DEP, 2023-2024 Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan, available at
https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Statewide-Flooding-and-Sea-Level-Rise-Resilience-Plan_Grant-
List_07122023.pdf.
35
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
Nov. 16, 2023).
36
Section 380.0933(1), F.S.
37
Section 380.0933(2) and (3), F.S.
38
Section 380.093(6), F.S.
39
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. BILL: SB 298 Page 6
The Statewide Office of Resilience reviews 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 DEP
worked together to provide the Governor and 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.,
40
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.;
41
An overview of the geographic distribution of entities with funded projects in the Statewide
Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan;
42
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.
43
40
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.
41
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
42
Id. at 7-9.
43
Id. at 10-12. BILL: SB 298 Page 7
Coastal Counties
Florida has 35 coastal counties.
44
The following seven coastal counties have populations less than 50,000 as of April 2022:
45
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
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), beginning July 1, 2025, to provide grants to
coastal counties to conduct vulnerability assessments analyzing the effects of saltwater intrusion
on their water supplies and the preparedness to respond to such a threat.
44
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 Nov. 16, 2023).
45
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 Nov. 16,
2023). BILL: SB 298 Page 8
Each vulnerability assessment must include an analysis of all of the following information:
The coastal county’s primary water utilities;
Current maps of the coastal 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
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 DEP to do all of the following:
Use the information contained in a coastal county’s saltwater intrusion vulnerability
assessment to update its Comprehensive Statewide Flood Vulnerability and Sea Level Rise
Data Set;
Make publicly available on DEP’s website any appropriate information from a saltwater
intrusion vulnerability assessment it receives from coastal counties; and
Provide 50 percent cost-share funding up to $250,000 for each grant awarded under this
section of the Resilient Florida Grant Program. A coastal 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.
V. Fiscal Impact Statement:
A. Tax/Fee Issues:
None.
B. Private Sector Impact:
None. BILL: SB 298 Page 9
C. Government Sector Impact:
The Department of Environmental Protection (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.
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.