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February 14, 2024
On September 1st, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution that seeks to strengthen the county’s stormwater regulation. We score this a Miami Waterkeeper Water Win!
Earlier this year, Miami Waterkeeper teamed with Everglades Law Center to issue a first-of-its-kind stormwater report card that analyzed operation and maintenance of municipal stormwater systems. Why was this important? Our municipal stormwater systems are interconnected and eventually outfall into the Biscayne Bay, draining lots of pollution from the uplands. Urban stormwater is likely the most significant source of polluted runoff into the bay and tributary waterways, contributing to their current decline.
After nine months of dedicated research in close collaboration with Everglades Law Center, we released the Stormwater Report Card, which urged the following measures:
- Miami-Dade County and municipalities regularly maintain stormwater systems.
- Miami-Dade County and municipalities improve litter collection and street sweeping.
- Miami-Dade County and municipalities implement a Stormwater Asset Management System, which would keep track in real time how well municipal stormwater systems are performing.
- The Florida Department of Environmental Protection strengthen requirements and increase auditing and enforcement of its Clean Water Act permits for municipal stormwater stormwater systems.
We're proud that many of our recommendations were accepted and adopted in this recently passed resolution. This important achievement take us one step further in restoring the health of Biscayne Bay and our watershed. Special thanks to Biscayne Bay Watershed Management Advisory Board member Dave Doebler for hearing our ideas and helping get them into this resolution.
Click here to read the full resolution.