Wellhead
Protection
The Wellhead Protection Program is a pollution prevention
and management program used to protect underground based
sources of drinking water. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act
(SDWA), as amended in 1986, established a program for the
States to delineate and manage Wellhead Protection Areas (WHPAs)
for protection of ground water supplies from contamination. A
Wellhead Protection Area is defined as the surface and
subsurface area surrounding a public water supply well,
through which contaminants are reasonably likely to move
toward and reach the well.
Statewide Wellhead Protection
On August 18, 1998, the EPA approved Florida’s Wellhead Protection
Program. Florida's Wellhead Protection Program coordinates and builds on
existing programs and rules that protect Florida’s ground water
resources. The program also enables local governments to expand on these
rules by implementing their own strategies for protecting drinking water
wells.
The DEP Wellhead Protection program incorporates the Wellhead
Protection rule,
Chapter
62-521, F.A.C., and the ground water protection measures
administered by the DEP regulatory programs. The Wellhead Protection
Rule establishes a 500-foot radius circular Wellhead Protection Area
around all wells which serve
community and
non-transient non-community public water systems. The rule prohibits
certain new installations from locating in wellhead protection areas,
and specifies additional performance standards for other new
installations and activities. DEP regulatory programs also implement
specific performance, permitting, and monitoring criteria designed to
protect ground water on a statewide basis.
Local Government Wellhead Protection
Chapter 9J-5, F.A.C., Minimum Criteria for Review of Local
Government Comprehensive Plans, a rule administered by the Florida
Department of Community Affairs, requires local governments to develop a
comprehensive plan that addresses growth management. For each plan, the
rule requires that "existing and planned public potable water wells and
wellhead protection areas" be mapped, and that potable water wellfields
be protected by "designating appropriate activities and land used within
wellhead protection areas." The rule defines a wellhead protection area
to mean:
"An area designated by local government to provide land use
protection for the ground water source for a potable water wellfield,
as defined in this chapter, including the surface and subsurface area
surrounding the wellfield. Differing levels of protection may be
established within the wellhead protection area commensurate with the
capacity of the well and an evaluation of the risk to human health and
the environment. Wellhead protection areas shall be delineated using
professionally accepted methodologies based on the best available data
and taking into account any zones of contribution described in
existing data."
Unlike many other states, the requirement for local governments to
address wellhead protection in Florida is not voluntary. Virtually all
467 local governments have addressed wellhead protection. Further,
nearly one third of all local governments in Florida come under the
umbrella of
Miami-Dade,
Broward, and
Palm Beach Counties’ comprehensive wellhead protection ordinances.
Other counties and local governments have also developed ordinances and
programs that address their specific issues and concerns.
Source Water Assessment and Protection Program and Wellhead
Protection
The Wellhead Protection Program is the foundation for the Source
Water Assessment and Protection Program (SWAPP). SWAPP extends the
concept of source protection to surface water sources of drinking water.
For more information, visit the
SWAPP website.
