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SCOPE AND INTENT <br /> At the request of its Policy Board,the Tampa Bay Estuary Program(TBEP) <br /> coordinated four workshops on residential fertilizer use guidelines from April 8— <br /> June 10,2008.The intent was to develop regionally appropriate guidelines that <br /> could be incorporated into a local ordinance,should a local government elect to <br /> do so.It is hoped that implementation of fertilizer application guidelines specific <br /> for this region may reduce stormwater runoff pollutant loads to Tampa Bay—a <br /> key goal of TBEP's overall nitrogen reduction strategy.This would support local <br /> government efforts to meet regulatory requirements to reduce nutrient loading in <br /> designated Impaired Waters of the Tampa Bay watershed. <br /> Several regional recommendations were developed from these workshops(Table <br /> 1),summarized in a final report(TBEP 2008),and subsequently presented to the <br /> TBEP's Management and Policy Boards for adoption at their August 22,2008 <br /> meetings.At these meetings,the TBEP Management and Policy Boards <br /> endorsed the regional recommendations developed through the stakeholder <br /> workgroup meetings,including the June 1 -Sept.30 rainy season ban on non- <br /> agricultural nitrogen fertilizer applications. <br /> Consequently,the TBEP Policy Board also directed staff to develop a technical <br /> background document summarizing the relative contribution of non-agricultural <br /> fertilizer application in the Tampa Bay watershed and provide estimates(best <br /> available based on existing literature)of potential nitrogen load reductions <br /> associated with implementation of the application recommendations.This <br /> document serves as the technical background document requested by the TBEP <br /> Policy Board,and upon review by the TBEP Nitrogen Management Consortium, <br /> will be provided to the FDEP and EPA for their review in order to establish load <br /> reduction credits for any municipality in the Tampa Bay watershed who <br /> implements these regional recommendations.Also at the direction of the TBEP <br /> Policy Board,TBEP staff will recommend that the NMC request that FDEP and <br /> EPA provide concurrence with the findings of this report,here in,to establish <br /> nitrogen load reduction credits based upon these analyses or to provide <br /> alternative recommendations of fertilizer application restriction implementation <br /> credits. <br /> SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS <br /> It is recommended that the reduction percentage estimates summarized for <br /> fertilizer restrictions in this document be applied in addition to any education <br /> credits as provided under FDEP directive,if the regional non-agricultural fertilizer <br /> application recommendations(including a June 1-Sept 30 ban on N fertilization <br /> application)are incorporated and implemented through adoption of a local <br /> ordinance.This would potentially result in a 5%TN load reduction credit for <br /> education and an additional 4.1%reduction credit(on average)for <br /> implementation of the recommended ordinance.Either bay segment-specific or <br /> 5q5- 55 <br />