(1) Subject to the appropriation of funds by the Legislature, the department may provide grants for the following projects within a basin management action plan, an alternative restoration plan adopted by final order, or a rural area of opportunity under s. 288.0656 which will individually or collectively reduce excess nutrient pollution:
(a) Projects to retrofit onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems to upgrade such systems to enhanced nutrient-reducing onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems.
(b) Projects to construct, upgrade, or expand facilities to provide advanced waste treatment, as defined in s. 403.086(4).
(c) Projects to connect onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems to central sewer facilities.
(2) In allocating such funds, priority must be given to projects that subsidize the connection of onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems to wastewater treatment facilities. First priority must be given to subsidize the connection of onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems to existing infrastructure. Second priority must be given to any expansion of a collection or transmission system that promotes efficiency by planning the installation of wastewater transmission facilities to be constructed concurrently with other construction projects occurring within or along a transportation facility right-of-way. Third priority must be given to all other connections of onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems to wastewater treatment facilities. The department shall consider the estimated reduction in nutrient load per project; project readiness; the cost-effectiveness of the project; the overall environmental benefit of a project; the location of a project; the availability of local matching funds; and projected water savings or quantity improvements associated with a project.
(3) Each grant for a project described in subsection (1) must require a minimum of a 50-percent local match of funds. However, the department may, at its discretion, waive, in whole or in part, this consideration of the local contribution for proposed projects within an area designated as a rural area of opportunity under s. 288.0656.
(4) The department shall coordinate with each water management district, as necessary, to identify grant recipients in each district.
(5) Beginning January 1, 2021, and each January 1 thereafter, the department shall submit a report regarding the projects funded pursuant to this section to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
History.—s. 15, ch. 2020-150.