One Water Approaches to Water Resource Management
This resolution encourages Florida public officials, utilities, and other water users to adopt “One Water” approaches to water resource management. The resolution describes One Water as a collaborative, integrated strategy that treats fresh and brackish surface water, groundwater, stormwater, wastewater, and recycled water as connected resources rather than separate systems. It emphasizes planning, conservation, infrastructure investment, and regional coordination to better balance water supply, water quality, environmental protection, and future growth.
The resolution is framed around Florida’s growing water demand, the importance of clean water and healthy springs, lakes, estuaries, and wetlands, and the need to avoid projected shortages and environmental degradation. It also notes the role of water in agriculture, recreation, fisheries, and economic development, and points to the Florida One Water Commission as a stakeholder group supporting this approach. The measure does not create regulatory requirements or new programs; instead, it expresses the House’s encouragement for integrated water planning and funding practices.
As a resolution, H0661 does not amend the Florida Statutes, impose new duties, or appropriate funds. Its legal effect is primarily advisory and expressive, signaling legislative support for integrated water resource management and encouraging public water utilities and other users to coordinate supply, quality, wastewater, stormwater, and conservation planning. The practical impact is to reinforce policy support for regional, resilience-focused water projects and may influence agency, utility, and local government planning priorities.
The available vote history shows strong support, with the House Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee approving the measure 16-0. The bill text and context are uniformly positive, presenting One Water as a practical response to growth, water shortages, and water quality challenges. There is no recorded committee testimony or opposition in the provided materials, suggesting broad agreement around the general policy direction.
No explicit opposition or major controversy appears in the provided record. The only potential point of policy tension is the shift away from traditional siloed management of drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and conservation toward a more integrated regional model, which can require coordination across agencies, utilities, and stakeholders. However, the resolution itself is nonbinding and framed as encouragement rather than mandate, which likely reduces contention.