Subject:
Title
Extension of Temporary Moratorium on New Applications of Biosolids to Lands within Brevard County
End
Fiscal Impact:
N/A
Dept/Office:
Natural Resources Management
Requested Action:
Recommendation
It is requested that the Board of County Commissioners conduct a public hearing regarding adopting an extension of the moratorium for any new applications of biosolids to lands within Brevard County effective July 8, 2026.
End
Summary Explanation and Background:
On October 8, 2019, the Board of County Commissioners approved Ordinance 19-20, a 180-day moratorium on any new permits that would expand the application of biosolids to lands in Brevard County. The moratorium was initially in response to a blue-green cyanobacteria, Dolichospermum circinale, bloom in Lake Washington in July 2019, which generated questions about the safety of a primary drinking water supply for Brevard County. Toxin levels measured during the 2019 bloom were low and did not indicate human health concerns. Additional blooms producing toxic microcystins, still below thresholds for human health concerns, were documented in September 2020, March 2021, December 2021, January 2022, March 2022, February 2023, August 2024, April 2025, and October 2025.
The Board of County Commissioners voted in favor of 180-day extensions of the temporary biosolids moratorium in April and October of 2020, in March and August of 2021, and again in February 2022, as Ordinances 2020-05, 2020-18, 2021-07, 2021-20 and 2022-04 respectively. The Board voted in favor of a 365-day extension of the moratorium on August 2, 2022, July 11, 2023, July 9 2024, and again on May 6, 2025, as Ordinances 2022-19, 2023-13, 2024-11, and 2025-06 respectively.
Biosolids legislation in Senator Mayfield’s Clean Waterways Act (Senate Bill 712) was approved by the Legislature on March 12, 2020. This legislation directed the Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to revise its rules to reduce the impacts of biosolids on water quality and allows for the extension of county biosolids moratoria adopted prior to November 1, 2019. On June 21, 2021, Governor DeSantis signed House Bill 1309 allowing the FDEP to move forward with rule adoption without review by the Environmental Regulation Commission. As of July 1, 2022, biosolids land application sites were required to be enrolled in Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Best Management Practices program and are prohibited from land application on soils with a seasonal high water table within six inches of the soil surface or depth of biosolids placement. As of December 22, 2022, biosolids land application sites were required to submit revised nutrient management plans considering phosphorus capacity of the receiving soils, and groundwater and surface water monitoring plans.
The state biosolids rule revisions were expected to reduce phosphorus pollution but not prevent it. Funding was provided to the St. Johns River Water Management District for biosolids research on the continuing impacts under the 2021 rule and to inform future rule revisions and potential mitigation measures. This research has demonstrated that phosphorus applied through Class B biosolids migrates off-site in both the short and long term, calling for further regulatory controls.
In 2025, FDEP issued Consent Agreement Order in OGC File No. 25-1282 requiring that by July 1, 2027, biosolids land application rates at all applications zones in the Upper St. John’s River watershed be compliant with the nutrient management plan land application rates and related requirements under the 2021 biosolids rules.
In the 2026 session, the Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 290, which prohibits the land application of Class B biosolids statewide by July 1, 2028. Additionally, the Legislature passed House Bill 1245, effective November 1, 2026, to prohibit the land application of Class AA biosolids exceeding the agronomic rate needed for beneficial reuse.
Although biosolids have been applied in Brevard County each year since the implementation of the ordinance under the authority of grandfathered permits, only one site in Brevard County is currently accepting biosolids. Two former biosolids land application sites in Brevard do not have active permits. Two additional land application sites have permits to apply biosolids to land immediately adjacent to Brevard County; however, one of those sites inactivated their land application permit in 2024.
Extension of this moratorium will continue to protect Brevard County’s waterways from additional excess phosphorus associated with biosolids applications until the statewide prohibitions become effective. The attached ordinance has been reviewed by the County Attorney’s Office and duly noticed.
Clerk to the Board Instructions:
If adopted, please return a certified copy of the ordinance to Natural Resources.