Programs

DEP 101: DEP Central Laboratory

The DEP Central Laboratory in Tallahassee serves the department as a whole, including the watershed restoration program, along with environmental protection programs at other agencies – performing more than 140,000 analyses in an average year.

The lab is able to provide analytical services for a broad range of pollutants, algal toxins, toxicity bioassays, wastewater chemical tracers, biological community assessment, microbiology, fine particulates in air and molecular markers of bacterial contamination.

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DEP 101: Basin Management Action Plans

A basin management action plan, or BMAP, is a comprehensive set of site-specific strategies to reduce or eliminate pollutant loadings and restore particular waterbodies to health.

Each BMAP is designed to achieve one or more total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), each of which establishes a target for the maximum amount of a specific pollutant that may be present while ensuring the functionality and health of the affected waterbody.

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DEP 101: Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment

The department monitors water quality for three primary purposes:

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DEP 101: Surface Water Quality Standards

Water quality standards define the protection goals for surface waters by establishing designated uses (the public and aquatic life uses of the waterbodies), criteria by which to measure attainment of those uses and other policies to protect waterbodies from the impact of pollutants.

Florida has six surface water classifications reflecting designated uses:

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Press Office

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