Walton County, FL Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

00 of the Walton County Land Development Code opens the county's stormwater chapter with a blanket requirement: it governs the design, construction and alteration of every stormwater management and drainage system in unincorporated Walton County, and every residential, commercial and industrial project has to incorporate erosion and sediment controls sufficient to hold sediment on-site until the construction area reaches final stabilization. The Code requires Best Management Practices (BMPs) as necessary during construction so that discharges leaving the site don't cause or contribute to a violation of state water quality standards.

A construction site that operates without adequate erosion and sediment controls can be issued a notice of violation and referred to Code Enforcement procedures under Chapter 7 of the Land Development Code. On top of the county's own standard, the Code flags that a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater construction generic permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is required for any activity disturbing one acre or more of land, or a smaller disturbance that is part of a larger common plan of development, when the site discharges stormwater to state waters or through a municipal separate storm sewer system.

01: a pile-supported home can skip a full engineered stormwater plan if its impervious surface ratio stays at or below 45 percent of the lot, while any lot allowed up to the county's 65 percent impervious-surface ceiling needs a stormwater design signed and sealed by a Florida-licensed civil engineer.