The Florida APRICOT Act of 1994

The Florida APRICOT Act of 1994 was enacted as a result of Project APRICOT, which stands for A Prototype Realistic Innovative Community of Today. Project APRICOT, developed in the late 1980s, made it possible for the city of Altamonte Springs to fund and integrate reuse into its water resource management landscape.

Two provisions of this act were significant to Florida’s Water Reuse Program.

1. Section 2 of the Act (found in Section 403.086(8), Florida Statutes (F.S.)), allowed for permitting of backup discharges for reuse systems when the utility provides advanced waste treatment.
2. Advanced water treatment is defined in 403.086, F.S., as having annual average limits for CBOD5, total suspended solids, total nitrogen (as N), and total phosphorus of 5,5,3, and 1 mg/L, respectively and has received high level disinfection, as defined by rule of the department.
   
   • Florida's high-level disinfection criteria are contained in Rule 62-600.440(5), Florida Administrative Code, (F.A.C). It is interesting to note that in certain cases (i.e., back-up discharges to public access reuse systems), the intermediate disinfection criteria in Rule 62-600.440(7), F.A.C., are allowed to serve as the high-level disinfection criteria.
   • These discharges are limited to 30 percent of the permitted reuse capacity on an annual basis.
   • The section authorizes the department to require backflow prevention devices on potable water lines within reclaimed water service areas. The department is directed to determine under what conditions back-flow prevention devices are necessary or not necessary.
3. Section 3 of the Act (found in Section 403.859(8), F.S., allowed high-quality reclaimed water to be injected into certain potable ground waters.
   
   • These are potable ground waters, as defined in Chapter 62-520.410, F.A.C., which contain 500 mg/L or less total dissolved solids, provided that the injection is done in accordance with department rules.
   • The section moderated the previous prohibition on injection of reclaimed water into any formation of the Floridan or Biscayne aquifers. The previous prohibition was enacted in the mid-1980s in response to opposition to Orlando’s proposed CONSERV I project. That proposal involved injection of high-quality reclaimed water into the upper layer of the Floridan Aquifer.
   • The 1999 revisions to Chapter 62-610, F.A.C., expanded, strengthened and refined the requirements for injection of high quality reclaimed water into potable ground waters. These revisions fully implanted this provision of the Florida Apricot Act.