At the request of its Management and Policy Boards, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program will be facilitating a series of workshops to develop regional, science-based guidelines for appropriate use of residential fertilizer. Once developed, these guidelines could be incorporated into a local ordinance, should a local government elect to do so.

The first workshop will be held in early April 2008. TBEP hopes to finalize its recommendations by early June.

Concern over excessive use of fertilizers on lawns has prompted several cities and counties in Florida to enact ordinances restricting when, where and how much fertilizer can be applied on turfgrass. The statewide Consumer Fertilizer Task Force also has issued a report with recommendations for certification of lawn care professionals as well as a model ordinance for local government consideration.

TBEP sees two primary advantages to developing regionwide guidelines for fertilizer use. The first is that consistent guidelines will ensure that citizens throughout the Tampa Bay area are given the same advice and information about appropriate use of fertilizer for turf grass, ultimately leading to greater compliance whether an ordinance is adopted or a strictly voluntary approach is preferred. Consistent guidelines will allow for common educational materials to be developed, spreading the cost among many governments and organizations, and resulting in potentially significant cost-savings.

The second advantage pertains to compliance by lawn care professionals. Because lawn care companies traverse the entire Bay Area servicing customers, the use of consistent guidelines by the many local governments within the bay watershed will avoid confusion among lawn care professionals about what rules apply in which community.

Regional guidelines could address, for example, appropriate seasonal prohibitions on fertilizer use, appropriate buffer zones from water bodies, and appropriate application rates.

Implementation of fertilizer application guidelines specific for this region could reduce stormwater runoff pollutant loads to Tampa Bay – a key goal of TBEP’s overall nitrogen reduction strategy. This would support local government efforts to meet regulatory requirements to reduce nitrogen loading in designated Impaired Waters.