12-A Sntinedti tar
Thursday, Jan. 6, 1977 Or.ndo, lor.d


JrA 19 Panel Urges Single
JAN 1 1 1977
S1Water Control Plan

By D. G. LAWRENCE
Sentinel Star Staff
TALLAHASSEE Unless the spring legislative
session consolidates Florida's fragmented control
of the quality of its drinking water, the state stands
to lose $790,134 in federal funding, a senate study
warned Wednesday.
The staff report, the fourth of seven staff studies
on broad problems ordered by Senate President Lew
Brantley, recommended authority
over drinking water purity go to t
the E n v i ronmental Regulation I
Department. It gets the federal 7"
Sgrant.-.
Currently it shares respon-
sibility with the Health and :.: .iQ-f..q
Rehabilitation Services Depart- '.. .
ment and the virtually. autono- .
mous county health units which ..........
are partially supported by the Brantley
department.
However, it complained, the staff was unable to
document how much was sent to the counties by the
department.
And to further fragment control over drinking
water quality, said the report, the Environmental
Regulation and Health Departments agreed last
February to turn over to nine counties, including
Brevard and Polk, the department of environmental
regulation's authority because those counties have
qualified sanitary engineering staffs.
It said all control programs were woefully
understaffed. In the Environmental Regulation
Department, for instance, only 64 persons work on
maintaining water quality statewide, including
clerical and part-time help.
The staff estimated there were now 7,500 public
water systems throughout the state.
"The most frequently heard complaint from
II county personnel visited is that they do not have the
time or manpower to adequately carry out their
duties." the report said.