Water Resource Development Work Program

The Five-Year Water Resource Development Work Program (Work Program) is part of the District’s annual budget reporting process required under Section 373.536, Florida Statutes (F.S.). The Work Program describes the District’s implementation strategy for the Water Resource Development (WRD) component of the approved Regional Water Supply Plan (RWSP). The Work Program is a comprehensive discussion of the WRD “Data Collection and Analyses” activities and more narrowly defined “Projects” that the District is financially and technically undertaking to enhance the amount of water available to meet projected demands.

The District’s “Data Collection and Analyses” activities provide the information required to understand and support the development of water supplies. These activities include the Regional Observation Monitoring Program, the Quality of Water Improvement Program, the Minimum Flows and Levels Program, and other hydrologic investigations. The Work Program contains detailed descriptions of each program funded in the fiscal year.

The WRD “Projects” are defined by the Executive Office of the Governor as “regional projects designed to create, from traditional or alternative sources, an identifiable, quantifiable supply of water for existing and/or future reasonable beneficial uses.” Some of the District’s WRD project highlights include the FARMS initiative which helps to offset agricultural groundwater withdrawals and improve surface water quality, the Lake Hancock Lake Level Modification to improve minimum flows on the Peace River, and the ASR Pretreatment Investigation to resolve issues with the mobilization of arsenic in underground storage systems.

Although not a required element of the Work Program, the District includes a list of Water Supply Development (WSD) projects funded in the annual budget to demonstrate the magnitude of funding provided for these efforts. The WSD projects are developed primarily by regional water supply authorities, local governments, and privately owned water utilities, but qualify for financial assistance under the District’s policies and Section 373.705, F.S. The District is committed to supporting this funding in an effort to ensure adequate water resources are available to meet existing and future reasonable beneficial uses.

Beginning in fiscal year 2009, additional information is included in the appendices at the request of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Appendix A contains an update of demand projections, and Appendix B describes new WSD projects introduced that fiscal year. This is provided as an annual update of projects suitable for inclusion in the RWSP and as an effort to give decision-makers the most current information on water supply.