The Environmental Protection Division protects air, surface water and groundwater quality in the County's watersheds and estuaries. The division monitors ambient air and surface water quality throughout the County to meet regulatory requirements as well as to provide a measure of the the effectiveness of regional efforts to improve our environment. Through contracts and agreements with state and regional agencies, we operate local pollutant storage tank, small quality generator of hazardous waste, and water well construction programs. Our mining program administers the County's phosphate mining and reclamation rules providing local oversight on major earthmoving projects with a primary focus on phosphate mining and shell pit operations. We have many responsibilities under the Manatee County Land Development Code.
Environmental Protection Division Services
The Environmental Protection Division offers the following array of internal and external services:
- Coordinate the County's compliance with its municipal stormwater permit and prepare the annual report
- Municipal stormwater system ordinance compliance
- Water well construction state-delegated regulatory program
- Pollutant storage tank state-delegated regulatory program
- Small quantity generator of hazardous waste state-mandated regulatory program
- Phosphate mining and reclamation ordinance
- Earthmoving site permitting
- Ambient water quality and biological monitoring for regulatory compliance
- Ambient air quality monitoring for attainment status demonstration
- Large development water quality monitoring programs
- Construction site sedimentation and erosion control compliance
- Wastewater residuals landspreading ordinance
- Citizen complaint investigations
- Environmental policy analysis
- Data management and statistical analyses
- Geographic analyses using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Many of these services have review and approval, inspection, reporting, and record-keeping elements that are not reflected in this list. Services with contractual and quality assurance requirements are periodically audited by the responsible state agencies.
The Environmental Protection Division also participates in many inter-governmental technical and policy development forums such as the three (3) federally-initiated estuary programs, the Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Consortium, the Southwest Florida Regional Ambient Monitoring Program, the Seagrass Working Group, and others. Participation in these forums helps us develop technically sound guidance for our policy makers.