Florida Must Toughen Rules for Water Pollutants, EPA Says (1)

Florida’s water quality standards for streams and wetlands aren’t strong enough to protect human health, the EPA told state environment officials.

The determination paves the way for the Environmental Protection Agency to set surface water quality standards for Florida if the state doesn’t act.

Existing human health criteria for surface waters are insufficient to keep people safe from pollution, and new criteria need to be developed for 37 pollutants for which the state currently has no standards, including benzene and toluene, EPA said.

The agency said Florida needs to strengthen existing standards for 40 pollutants, including fluorene, chloroform, beryllium, antimony, ...