Environmental Resource Permitting Coordination, Assistance, Portals

Operating Agreements ERP Permitting: DEP District Offices and the Water Management District Offices

The Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) Program regulates activities involving the alteration of surface water flows. This includes new activities in uplands that generate stormwater runoff from upland construction, as well as dredging and filling in wetlands and other surface waters.   

Environmental Resource Permit applications and state-owned submerged lands authorizations are processed by either the one of the department's six district offices or one of Florida's five water management districts (WMD):  St. Johns River WMD, Suwannee River WMD, Northwest Florida WMD, South Florida WMD and Southwest Florida WMD. Operating agreements between the department and the WMDs specify which agency will process each type of application. The staff of the department and the WMDs will be happy to help applicants determine the appropriate agency for an application. 

Activities reviewed by the department

Under the operating agreements, the department generally reviews and takes actions on applications involving:

• Solid waste, hazardous waste, domestic waste and industrial waste facilities
• Mining (except borrow pits that do not involve on-site material grading or sorting)
• Power plants, transmission and communication cables and lines, and natural gas and petroleum exploration, production, and distribution lines and facilities
• Docking facilities and attendant structures and dredging that are not part of a larger plan of residential or commercial development
• Navigational dredging conducted by governmental entities, except when part of a larger project that a WMD has the responsibility to permit
• Systems serving only one single-family dwelling unit or residential unit not part of a larger common plan of development
• Systems located in whole or in part seaward of the coastal construction control line
• Seaports
• Smaller, separate water-related activities not part of a larger plan of development (such as boat ramps, mooring buoys and artificial reefs)

Department of Environmental Protection - Permitting Portal

Activities reviewed by the water management district

The WMDs review and take action on all other ERP applications. 

Florida's Water Permitting Portal: The Permitting Portal of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida's Water Management Districts