The public's perceptions will dictate the basic viability of any strategy to build water resource management improvements and enhance the community's operational program. In most Florida communities, at any given time, a large segment of the general public lacks an understanding of stormwater problems and needs in the community. Many residents live in areas that do not suffer drainage problems, and are not exposed to the traffic and other problems that deficient drainage creates.

Stormwater management studies completed in the past decade in many Florida communities could, if implemented, raise community awareness of stormwater issues and the physical components of the stormwater management systems thereby partially alleviating the perceptual problem. Most stormwater managers generally recognize that public perceptions are difficult to precisely assess, respond to, and alter. Factors which may influence public perceptions of stormwater in the community area include:

• Cyclic weather patterns and fading memory of recent storm events and specific flooding problems
• New and seasonal resident's lack of experience with local stormwater management problems and issues
• Lack of public understanding of the need for a comprehensive stormwater management program
• Limited public understanding of the interaction of the community's stormwater management program with those of the Water Management Districts and other agencies
• The inherent complexity of an effective drainage program and financing strategy
• Timing expectations

Each of these aspects of the public perception problem is discussed in more detail below:

One problem that affects the public's perception of the need for stormwater system improvements is cyclic weather patterns. Florida has experienced extended periods of dry weather, often lasting for several years, which in many portions of the State have been characterized as droughts. These dry weather periods focus public attention on water supply issues, problems in the wetland environments, and wildfires, which divert attention from the ongoing need of the community's existing systems. Unfortunately, both maintenance and capital investment in stormwater system improvements will be needed again when the rain returns during normal weather.

Most new Florida residents are probably unaware of drainage problems, which can occur in their immediate areas during severe storms, or of the potential impacts on transportation and other urban systems. Because they have not yet been directly impacted, they may be neither knowledgeable of nor interested in stormwater management. Lack of perception of drainage problems is compounded in communities with seasonal residents who are typically absent during the wet summer season.

Despite the annual threat of hurricanes, tropical storms, and frequent thunderstorms, the greatest obstacle facing most Florida communities may be convincing the citizens that sufficient stormwater problems exist to merit additional attention and money. Unless they are directly impacted by drainage problems, people are not likely to readily perceive them. Peoples' memories of minor floods dim almost as rapidly as water recedes, and a substantial public involvement effort may be needed to develop support for increased community stormwater funding. Even if the basic issue of whether problems exist can be resolved, a community's lack of understanding of their complexity and overly optimistic expectations of how quickly they can be solved will probably remain.

Communicating the need for and benefits of a comprehensive stormwater management program to the Public is not an easy task. Florida communities face a difficult and on?going twin focus challenge: first to inform the community of the need for a comprehensive drainage program and, second, to generate support for community wide stormwater management activities. A truly comprehensive stormwater management program is a difficult operation to develop because it usually is a significant departure from the community's current operational philosophy which, due to long-term funding constraints, has been to limit the extent of its responsibility to as few components of the system as possible which typically focus on the large ditch systems in the community.

The relationship of stormwater management to the community's other programs must be considered in the community's long?term plans. The need and justification for better stormwater management is based at least partially on the pervasive and costly long?term impacts that inadequate stormwater management will have on other programs and systems undertaken by the community. The impact of stormwater problems on streets, emergency services, public health and safety, water and wastewater systems, and water quality in receiving water bodies must be communicated to both the residents and the business community.

Most Florida communities have recognized the need to implement a programmatic approach to stormwater management as opposed to the project-by-project approach. The internal strategy of the programmatic approach is to develop a long-term program composed of "building blocks" of comprehensive and cohesive program elements, while at the same time meeting the community's immediate demands for solutions to specific problems through construction of facilities. A reasoned and well?planned approach will ensure that continuity is maintained through a developmental process that must necessarily span several years.

The mandates of the current Growth Management Act and its successors may pose a potential compliance problem which will build pressure for timely action of stormwater management issues. Most Florida communities can implement improvements in maintenance programs and regulatory controls within a year or two and construct a few capital projects relatively quickly. Nevertheless, the community's ability to construct major capital projects may depend on its ability to finance a package of drainage improvements, in which drainage must be measured against other priorities.

Timing expectations will pose a significant consideration of the comprehensive stormwater management program. Most Florida communities are challenged to step up and deliver projects that can be quickly implemented immediately after a significant flooding event, when the citizens are demanding and willing to pay for stormwater program improvements. The public expects quick solutions to most problems, and their patience is extremely tested by the lengthy process involved in improving the stormwater management program.

Most Florida communities need 3 to 5 years to complete detailed basin studies, facility designs, regulatory review and permitting, established bidding processes and normal project construction schedules. Florida's stormwater management programs need to develop a package of low cost, short-term and highly visible capital improvement, maintenance, and mitigation projects which can be accomplished in several years after a major flooding event to demonstrate progress even while a broader stormwater management program is being developed.

Full implementation of a comprehensive stormwater management program in the community will require much longer than most people anticipate because some of the program elements are dependent on others. The first key stop is to broaden community understanding of and support for better stormwater management generally, including consideration of water quality and water supply priorities. Stable and adequate funding must be established which ensures that subsequent steps can be achieved.