Outstanding Florida Waters are rivers, lakes and other water features designated by the

Florida Department of Environmental Protection The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is the Florida government Government agency, agency responsible for environmental protection. History By the mid-1960s, when the Federal government of the United States, federal governm ...

(DEP) under authority of Section 403.061 (27), Florida Statutes as "worthy of special protection because of their natural attributes." Outstanding Florida Waters have special restrictions on any new activities that would lower

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

or otherwise degrade the body of water. The Outstanding Florida Water designation has been applied to all bodies of water in

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

national wildlife refuge The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) is a system of protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, Department of the Interi ...

s, national seashores, national preserves, national marine sanctuaries and estuarine research reserves, state parks and recreation areas, state preserves and reserves, state ornamental gardens and botanical sites, environmentally endangered lands programs, conservation and recreation lands programs, Save Our Coast program acquisitions, state aquatic preserves, scenic and wild rivers (both national and state), and certain waters in national forests. The DEP has also designated these 'special' Outstanding Florida Waters: *

Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately long, in the state of Florida. The river's large drainage basin, watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint (ACF) River Basin, drains an area of approximately ...

Aucilla River The Aucilla River rises in Brooks County, Georgia, Brooks County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, USA, close to Thomasville, Georgia, Thomasville, and passes through the Big Bend (Florida), Big Bend region of Florida, emptying into the Gulf of M ...

Blackwater River A blackwater river is a type of River#Classification, river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. Most major blackwater rivers are in the Amazon Basin and the Southern United States. The term is used in fluvial ...

* Butler Chain of Lakes *

Chassahowitzka River The Chassahowitzka River is a spring-fed river located in southwestern Citrus County, Florida. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 river is home to hun ...

System * Chipola River *

Choctawhatchee River The Choctawhatchee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map , accessed 15 April 2011 river in the southern United States, flowing through southeast Alabama and the Panhandle o ...

* Clermont Chain of lakes * Crooked Lake * Crystal River * Econlockhatchee River System * Estero Bay tributaries *

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...

* Hillsborough River * Homosassa River System * Kingsley Lake and Black Creek (North Fork) * Lake Disston *

Lake Powell Lake Powell is a reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It holds of water when full, second in the United States to only the ...

* Lemon Bay estuarine system * Little Manatee River * Lochloosa Lake *

Myakka River The Myakka River is a river in southwestern Florida. It arises near the Hardee County, Florida, Hardee-Manatee County, Florida, Manatee county line and flows southwest and then southeast through Manatee, Sarasota County, Florida, Sarasota and Cha ...

(lower part) *

Ochlockonee River The Ochlockonee River ( ) is a fast running river, except where it has been dammed to form Lake Talquin in Florida, originating in Georgia and flowing for before terminating in Florida. Background The name is from the Hitchiti language wor ...

Ocklawaha River The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 21, 2011 Ocklawaha River flows north from central Florida until it joins the St. Johns River near Palatka. Its name is deriv ...

* Orange Lake,

River Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the mothe ...

, and Cross Creek * Perdido River *

Rainbow River The Rainbow River is located in Dunnellon, Florida, United States, in the southwest corner of Marion County, about southwest of Ocala, northwest of Orlando and north of the Tampa Bay area. It is formed by a first-magnitude spring ( Rain ...

* St. Marks River * Santa Fe River system *

Sarasota Bay Sarasota Bay is a lagoon located off the central west coast of Florida in the United States. Though no significant single stream of freshwater enters the bay, with a drainage basin limited to 150 square miles in Manatee and Sarasota counties, it ...

estuarine system * Shoal River * Silver River * Spruce Creek *

Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River or Swanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the Southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrog ...

* Tomoka River * Wacissa River * Wakulla River * Weekiwachee riverine system * Wekiva River * Wiggins Pass estuarine system FlaWaterwaysMap

References

Outstanding Florida Waters Fact Sheet
- URL retrieved September 24, 2006

External links

FloridaRivers.org
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Rivers A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

See also

References

External links