The Alachua County Environmental Protection Department (ACEPD) is holding two public meetings to explore how to protect springs, lakes, and creeks by reducing water and fertilizer use in local landscapes. The meetings are on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, and Tuesday, July 30, 2019, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Alachua County Health Department Auditorium (224 S.E. 24th Street, Gainesville).
During these meetings, stakeholders will share their ideas and provide feedback on recently adopted changes to the County’s landscape fertilizer and irrigation regulations. Changes to the landscape fertilizer regulations will go into effect October 1, 2019, and include prohibiting phosphorus unless a deficiency is verified, prohibiting the use of fertilizers with nitrogen from July through February, and requiring that fertilizers containing nitrogen contain no less than 50 percent slow release nitrogen.
Major changes to the landscape irrigation regulations also go into effect October 1, 2019, and include expanding irrigation design standards into the municipalities, and requiring that all new automatic landscape irrigation systems have a soil moisture sensor based controller or a weather-based controller (to avoid irrigation during sufficient rainfall).
The second meeting builds upon the first, so it is appropriate to attend both meetings to share opinions regarding landscaping regulations, goals, and behaviors.
For more information, contact ACEPD Interim Water Resources Program Manager Stacie Greco at 352-264-6829 or Sgreco@alachuacounty.us.
