Jupiter, FL Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Section 20-278, in the utilities chapter's stormwater article, sets the town's general prohibitions on the stormwater management system. Subsection (a) bars any discharge into the system that violates federal, state, county, municipal, or other law, rule, regulation, or permit, except discharges specifically listed as exempt in section 20-281 (things like landscape irrigation runoff, air conditioning condensation, and de-chlorinated pool water) or made under a valid NPDES permit. Subsection (b) separately prohibits any discharge that is not composed entirely of stormwater. Subsection (e) prohibits blocking, filling, altering, or obstructing any drainage course, swale, canal, ditch, or stormwater management area in a way that changes its intended use, whether the facility sits on public right-of-way, a dedicated easement, or private property, unless the town specifically authorizes the change.

Subsection (f) prohibits developing a parcel in a way that causes an adverse drainage impact on adjoining land. Subsection (g) requires property owners to keep their stormwater management facilities operating as originally designed or permitted; if a system stops functioning as intended, the owner can be required to refurbish it, and letting it lapse is itself a code violation. Subsection (c) gives the utilities director authority to issue cease-and-desist orders and to enter property to test, inspect, or sample where a prohibited condition may exist. Section 20-284 enforces the whole article with civil fines up to $500 per day for each day a violation continues.