JUPITER, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Jupiter Wednesday morning to announce new plans to keep Florida's water clean, which is based on recommendations from the state’s blue green algae task force.
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The new legislation would outline the inspection, maintenance, and replacement plans for waste water systems. Current law only allows officials to intervene once a spill occurs.
The proposed legislation would allow the state to do inspections on the front end to try to avoid future problems.
It would also regulate biosolids, only allowing them to be applied to specific land that is high and dry enough to prevent them from seeping into waterways.
"We want to have an effective system in place to deal with these issues, and I think as some of the speakers have said, some of what we’ve been doing has been stuck. We haven’t really made improvements, so this gives us an opportunity to make those improvements," said Gov. DeSantis.
The legislation would also transfer authority to oversee septic tank inspections from the Department of Health to the Department of Environmental Protection. That will allow inspections to also account for environmental concerns, the governor said.
The new laws would require the DEP to coordinate with top academic institutions to send the most updated research to the Department of Agriculture when it comes to runoff, and would also regulate storm water systems.