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

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 Department of Environmental Protection (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 or otherwise degrade the body of water.

The Outstanding Florida Water designation has been applied to all bodies of water in National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, National Seashores, National Preserves, National Marine Sanctuaries and Estuarine Research Reserves, State Parks & Recreation Areas, State Preserves and Reserves, State Ornamental Gardens and Botanical Sites, Environmentally Endangered Lands Programs, Conservation and Recreation Lands Program, and 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 the following special Outstanding Florida Waters:

• Apalachicola River
  Apalachicola River
  The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 112 mi long in the State of Florida. This river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin for short, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its farthest headstream in northeast Georgia is approximately 500...
  
   
• Aucilla River
  Aucilla River
  The Aucilla River rises close to Thomasville, Georgia, USA, and passes through the Big Bend region of Florida, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at Apalachee Bay. The river is long and has a drainage basin of . The Wacissa River is a tributary...
  
   
• Blackwater River
  Blackwater River (Florida)
  The Blackwater River of Florida is a river rising in southern Alabama and flowing through the Florida Panhandle to the Gulf of Mexico. The river enters Florida in Okaloosa County and flows through Santa Rosa County to Blackwater Bay, an arm of Pensacola Bay. The river passes through Blackwater...
  
   
• Butler Chain of Lakes 
• Chassahowitzka River
  Chassahowitzka River
  The Chassahowitzka River is a pristine spring-fed river located in southwestern Citrus County, Florida. The river is home to hundreds of species of birds including the Bald Eagle, and is a common refuge for the West Indian Manatee. In 1941, approximately of its saltwater creeks, freshwater...
  
   System
• Chipola River
  Chipola River
  The Chipola River is a tributary of the Apalachicola River in Florida. The river crosses Jackson, Calhoun and Gulf counties. The river flows into the Dead Lakes State Recreation Area just before reaching the Apalachicola. The Dead Lakes were formed when the Apalachicola deposited sand bars...
  
   
• Choctawhatchee River
  Choctawhatchee River
  The Choctawhatchee River is a river in the southern United States, flowing through southeast Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida before emptying into Choctawhatchee Bay in Okaloosa and Walton counties...
  
   
• Clermont Chain of Lakes 
• Crooked Lake
  Crooked Lake (Florida)
  Crooked Lake is a lake located in southeast Polk County, Florida, United States. The lake is located west of Babson Park, north of Hillcrest Heights and east of Crooked Lake Park. Crooked Lake is one of the largest lakes in Polk County both in terms of area and total volume with a maximum depth of ...
  
   
• Crystal River
  Crystal River (Florida)
  The Crystal River is a very short river in Citrus County, Florida flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. It is just seven miles long, and has a drainage basin of five square miles , joining Kings Bay to the Gulf of Mexico...
  
   
• Econlockhatchee River
  Econlockhatchee River
  The Econlockhatchee River is a north-flowing blackwater tributary of the St. Johns River that flows through Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties in Florida. Its name means "River of mounds"...
  
   System
• Estero Bay
  Estero Bay (Florida)
  Estero Bay, Florida, is an estuary located on the west coast of the state southeast of Fort Myers Beach. The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is long and very shallow, and covers about . Estero Bay is bordered on the west by a chain of barrier islands: Estero Island, Long Key, Lovers Key,...
  
   Tributaries
• Florida Keys
  Florida Keys
  The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
  
  
• Hillsborough River
  Hillsborough River (Florida)
  The Hillsborough River is a river located in the state of Florida in the USA. It arises in the Green Swamp near the juncture of Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties, and flows through Pasco and Hillsborough Counties to an outlet in the city of Tampa on Tampa Bay. The name Hillsborough River first...
  
   
• Homosassa River
  Homosassa River
  Homosassa River is a river in Citrus County, Florida, in the western part of the state. Its headwaters are the Homosassa Springs, and from there it flows west into the Gulf of Mexico...
  
   System
• Kingsley Lake
  Kingsley lake
  Kingsley Lake is an almost circular lake of about in North Central Florida, about six miles east of Starke, Florida. According to some sources, it is the oldest and highest lake in Florida, located on the edge of the Trail Ridge formation. The lake is a very stable lake with a sandy bottom. Its...
  
   & Black Creek (North Fork) 
• Lake Disston
• Lake Powell 
• Lemon Bay Estuarine System
• Little Manatee River
  Little Manatee River
  The Little Manatee River flows almost , from east of Fort Lonesome, Florida through southern Hillsborough County, Florida and northern Manatee County, Florida into Tampa Bay. It has a drainage basin of . It flows along the Little Manatee River State Park for part of its route...
  
   
• Lochloosa Lake
  Lochloosa Lake
  Lochloosa Lake is a lake about 6,000 acres in area in Alachua County, Florida, about 4 miles south of Hawthorne. It is drained by Cross Creek into Orange Lake. It is largely surrounded by the Lochloosa Wildlife Management Area. The lake is noted for bass fishing...
  
  
• Myakka River
  Myakka River
  The Myakka River is a river in southwestern Florida. It arises near the Hardee-Manatee county line and flows southwest and then southeast through Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties to Charlotte Harbor, an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. The river is long and has a drainage basin of...
  
   (lower part)
• Ochlocknee River
• Ocklawaha River
  Ocklawaha River
  The Ocklawaha River flows north from central Florida until it joins the St. Johns River near Palatka. Its name is a corruption of ak-lowahe, Creek for "muddy"....
  
  
• Orange Lake
  Orange Lake (Florida)
  Orange Lake is in Alachua County, Florida, about ten miles south of Hawthorne. It has an area of about 750 square km, and is part of the Orange Creek Basin. which is in turn part of the Oklawaha River watershed. Cross Creek flows into it from Lochloosa Lake, and Orange Creek drains it into the...
  
  , River Styx, and Cross Creek
  Cross Creek (Florida)
  Cross Creek is a natural waterway in Florida connecting Lochloosa Lake to Orange Lake, in southeastern Alachua County. It is 1.8 miles long, and carries the outflow from Lochloosa Lake into Orange Lake. It is normally navigable by small boats, but has completely dried up in droughts. The Creek has...
  
  
• Perdido River
  Perdido River
  The Perdido River is a river in the U.S. states of Alabama and Florida. The river forms part of the boundary between the two states along nearly its entire length and drains into the Gulf of Mexico...
  
  
• Rainbow River
  Rainbow River
  The Rainbow River is located in Dunnellon, Florida, USA, 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 that is ranked fourth in the state for volume of discharge...
  
  
• St. Marks River
  St. Marks River
  The St. Marks River is a river in the Big Bend region of Florida. It has been classified by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as an Outstanding Florida Water, and is the easternmost river within the Northwest Florida Water Management District....
  
  
• Santa Fe River System
• Sarasota Bay
  Sarasota Bay
  Sarasota Bay is an estuary located off the west coast of Florida in the United States.The bay and its surrounding area appeared on the earliest maps of the area, being named Zarazote on one dating from the early 18th century...
  
   Estuarine System
• Shoal River
• Silver River
• Spruce Creek
• Suwannee River
  Suwannee River
  The Suwannee River is a major river of southern Georgia and northern Florida in the United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long. The Suwannee River is the site of the prehistoric Suwannee Straits which separated peninsular Florida from the panhandle.-Geography:The river rises in the...
  
  
• Tomoka River
  Tomoka River
  The Tomoka River is a north-flowing river in Volusia County, Florida, United States. It drains an area of about and is the longest river in Volusia County , with a length of .- Geography :...
  
  
• Wacissa River
  Wacissa River
  The Wacissa River is a large, spring-fed stream located in south-central Jefferson County, Florida. Its headwaters are located about a mile south of the town of Wacissa, where the river emerges crystal clear from a group of large limestone springs...
  
  
• Wakulla River
  Wakulla River
  The Wakulla River is an river in Wakulla County, Florida. It carries the outflow from Wakulla Springs, site of the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, to the St. Marks River north of the Gulf of Mexico...
  
  
• Weekiwachee
  Weeki Wachee River
  The Weeki Wachee River is a river in Hernando County, Florida. It flows westwards from Weeki Wachee to the Gulf of Mexico at the Weeki Wachee estuary. The name is derived from the Seminole: uekiwv /oykéywa, wi:-/ "spring" and -uce /-oci/ "small", signifying either a small spring or an offshoot of...
  
   Riverine System
• Wekiva River
  Wekiva River
  The Wekiva River is a river starting in two separate fresh water springs in central Florida and ending in the St. Johns River. One of the springs is at Kelly Park, otherwise known as Rock Springs, and the other is in Wekiwa Springs State Park. Both springs border the Lower Wekiva River Preserve...
  
  
• Wiggins Pass Estuarine System