Florida Department of Agriculture officials are trying to block a proposed settlement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a Florida environmental group in which the EPA would set pollution limits for Florida's lakes and rivers. On Nov. 16, the state department will ask a federal judge to block a proposed agreement and allow the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to set those standards.

"I think EPA's numbers would be overly protective. The EPA errs on the side of caution all the time," said Rich Budell, director of the Florida Department of Agriculture's Office of Agricultural Water Policy.

"We don't believe the EPA has the technical expertise and the knowledge of Florida water data," he said. "I know EPA hasn't collected the data and I know that FDEP has collected the data."

Budell said the FDEP, which has studied Florida's rivers and lakes for many years, was better suited to determine water standards and "wouldn't select a number as protective as the EPA would. We want the FDEP to do this … not EPA from Washington."

The pollutants EPA is expected to set standards for are primarily phosphates and nitrogen, found principally in fertilizers.

While Florida already has limits for nitrogen and phosphorous when it comes to maximum daily loads entering the state's water bodies, it doesn't have such standards when it comes to average allowable limits.

Instead, Florida water officials have for many years only said that nutrient levels, such as for phosphorous and nitrogen, should not create an imbalance between flora and fauna, but never dictated specific levels for those nutrients.

Originally, the FDEP was working with the EPA to help establish average allowable limits for unwanted nutrients in water, but stopped when EPA was sued over the issue, the FDEP's Mary Paulic said last month.

Budell said EPA has indicated during past weeks that the standards it will propose next month will be significantly tougher than what Florida scientists had been considering.

"It's going to cost huge amounts of money to reach those standards," Budell said, warning that water and sewer bills would skyrocket.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson is also asking the state's water management districts to challenge the federal EPA during the November hearing, which will be held in Tallahassee.

Bronson said that the EPA creating water standards undermines FDEP's efforts to develop nutrient standards and would cost the state billions of dollars to meet.

"These new standards would impose regulations far in excess of anything being considered in any other state, drastically increasing costs for all consumers," Bronson said in a press release.

Also suing EPA is the Florida Water Environmental Association Utility Council, which is a group of more than 50 Florida utilities. The group is also trying to block EPA from establishing maximum acceptable pollutant levels.

The group said in its lawsuit that EPA is moving too quickly in setting those pollutant limits.

EPA spokeswoman Davina Marraccini said her agency's timetable for determining water quality limits are set, in part, by the U.S. Clean Water Act and was triggered in January when the EPA issued a "formal determination for numeric nutrients." That meant that one year after beginning the process, standards have to be established, Marraccini said. In this case, that means January 2010.

Marraccini said it was too early for Florida officials to complain about EPA's water standards.

"I think it's a little premature what those numbers will look like and whether they're achievable," she said.

She also said EPA would still evaluate FDEP's water quality recommendations if the agency submitted them.

The ultimate goal by having EPA establish standards is not to ride roughshod over Florida water agency officials, but to increase the "efficiency and effectiveness" of how Florida establishes its own water standards, Marraccinni said.