There will be spots to break with springs to see and early takeout at Rum Island Park (or Poe, Gilchrist, Ginnie). Rum and FL 47 Ramp cost money.
Please pack a responsible lunch eco friendly.
We have a yoga instructor who is willing to provide a session before, during, or after the paddle.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 10 AM, end 6 PM, Sunday, May 10, 2026
Put In: U.S. 27 Ramp
GPS: 29.844121, -82.6309
Continue readingThe Alachua County BOCC meets this morning, May 5, 2026, at 10 AM, County Administration Building – Grace Knight Conference Room 12 SE 1 Street, 2nd Floor, Gainesville, FL 32601.
There is nothing on their agenda about either of the moratoria that Hailey Hall requested on April 28, 2026, after their last meeting:
![[Two moratoriums: detention centers and WFNF --Hailey Hall to Alachua BOCC, 2026-04-28]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-05-05--alachua-bocc-hall-wfnf/fbmany.jpg)
Two moratoriums: detention centers and WFNF –Hailey Hall to Alachua BOCC, 2026-04-28
Hello Commissioners,
Thank you for your efforts and for allowing everyone to speak today at the meeting.
I am requesting that you enact two separate moratoriums.
- A moratorium prohibiting construction of new, non-municipal detention centers as Kansas City has done.
- A moratorium against further development and construction of the Water First North Florida pipeline project.
Please see the attached ordinance from Kansas City and resolution from Town of Branford.
Thank you and take care,
Hailey Hall
You’ve already seen the Branford resolution.
Here is the Kansas City ordinance: Continue reading
There is nothing about Water First North Florida (WFNF) on the Alachua County BOCC agenda for this morning, May 5, 2026, at 10 AM, County Administration Building – Grace Knight Conference Room 12 SE 1 Street, 2nd Floor, Gainesville, FL 32601.
But there is Public Comment near the end. And you can watch on facebook, YouTube, or Alachua County’s Video on Demand.
For much more about WFNF, see:
Here is what I sent the Alachua BOCC on April 20, 2026. Continue reading
Lafayette County on Tuesday became the sixth county to pass a letter or resulution against Water First North Florida (WFNF), the scheme by JEA, SJRWMD, and SRWMD to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin.
The other counties are Madison, Columbia, Suwannee, Hamilton, and Baker, plus the Town of Branford, the Rivers Task Force, and the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council. The last two organizations each represent all twelve counties in the Suwannee River Water Management District.
![[Lafayette County against WFNF & for desalination, April 28, 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-28--lafayette-county-wfnf-resolution/fbmany.jpg)
Lafayette County against WFNF & for desalination, April 28, 2026
There are better ways to address both lower flows and levels in the Suwannee Basin and JEA’s legal requirement to stop outflowing into the St. Johns River; see The promoters bear the burden of proof about WFNF –WWALS to SRWMD 2026-04-13.
For much more about WFNF, including upcoming county commission and city council meetings, see:
RESOLUTION NO. 2026-04-06
A RESOLUTION OF THE LAFAYETTE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OPPOSING THE WATER FIRST NORTH FLORIDA AQUIFER RECHARGE PROJECT AND RECOMMENDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ALTERNATIVE WATER DESALINIZATION PROJECT
WHEREAS, Continue reading
A wide-ranging story, which includes springs, the Nutrien phosphate mine, Stephen C. Foster, Ray Charles, Pilgrim’s Pride, WFNF, dairy farms, and Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs).
For much more about WFNF, see
First, some pullquotes:
Even blunter was John S. Quarterman, who’s been the Suwannee Riverkeeper for a decade. He told me, “It certainly IS endangered.”
Sheesh! Having your state’s most famous river classified as endangered is like having the governor’s limo towed because it’s a clunker. It reflects badly on all of us — especially whoever sits in the driver’s seat.
…
One of the largest drains on the Suwannee: Jacksonville. Water from the Suwannee is being pumped out of the ground to benefit folks who live nowhere near the river.
The water district has a plan to fix this. But it’ s so controversial, Quarterman said, that all the counties in the Suwannee River basin are opposed to it.
The flaw in the flow
The cover of the American Rivers report on the 10 most endangered rivers in America is an image of the flowing Suwannee.
Smack dab in the middle is a pipeline dumping waste into the river. Quarterman identified the pipeline’s owner as Pilgrim’s Pride, a chicken processing plant in Live Oak.
According to the water management district, the solution to the Suwannee’s dwindling flow lies in building a bigger, longer pipeline, this one stretching all the way to Jacksonville.
Although it’s called “Water First North Florida,” this project does not, in fact, involve water. It involves treated wastewater.
Continue reading
Water First North Florida (WFNF) is on the agenda for Lafayette County, Florida, BOCC:
- Consider adopting Resolution No. 2026-04-06, concerning the Water First North Florida Aquifer Recharge Project.
That’s at 5:30 PM, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in the County Commissioners Meeting Room, second floor, Lafayette County Courthouse, 120 West Main Street, Room #206, Mayo, Florida.
![[WFNF resolution on the agenda, Lafayette County BOCC, 5:30 PM, Tuesday, April 28, 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-28--agenda-lafayette-wfnf/fbmany.jpg)
WFNF resolution on the agenda, Lafayette County BOCC, 5:30 PM, Tuesday, April 28, 2026
We don’t know what the resolution says, since, as near as I can tell, Lafayette County BOCC only posts its agendas, not its board packets.
For what other elected bodies have passed, as well as who you can contact, and a petition, see:
Like Tana Silva, you can write a letter to the editor of your local, state, or national newspaper, or ask your local radio or TV station to interview you, or post on social media.
Better yet, call or write your elected and appointed officials, and sign the petition:
Tana Silva, Alachua Chronicle, April 19, 2026,
Letter: Refilling the aquifer with wastewater is a problem, not a solution
https://alachuachronicle.com/letter-refilling-the-aquifer-with-wastewater-is-a-problem-not-a-solution/
April 19, 2026
Letter to the editor
![[Refilling the aquifer with wastewater is a problem (WFNF) --Tana Silva 2026-04-19]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-19--wfnf-tana-silver/fbmany.jpg)
Refilling the aquifer with wastewater is a problem (WFNF) –Tana Silva 2026-04-19Until the 1970s, Jacksonville pumped sewage straight into the St. Johns River and allowed dumping industrial waste there as well. The mayor elected in 1967, local advocates, and the Clean Water Act of 1972 helped to at least send wastewater to treatment plants before releasing it to the river. That practice, too, is restricted by state law now, but raising springwater levels through recharging projects is another goal in state law that opens a path to reusing wastewater, a risky and irreversible choice.
Jacksonville, the largest city, water consumer, and wastewater producer in northern Florida, is again looking to offload its wastewater, this time far to the west, in rural springs country.
Local residents and governments and the 12-county regional planning council that includes Alachua County say no: Continue reading
Does the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) really not know what alternatives were considered before WFNF, and why they were rejected?
Or are they refusing to tell the public?
In either case, how are they representing the people of the Suwannee River Basin about Water First North Florida (WFNF), the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin?
![[SRWMD apparently does not know the 800 alternatives to WFNF]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-24--srwmd-800-alternatives/fbmany.jpg)
SRWMD apparently does not know the 800 alternatives to WFNF
Meanwhile, all dozen counties in the Suwannee District signed on to resolutions opposing NFWF by the Rivers Task Force and by the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council (NCFRPC).
The members of the Task Force and Council are all elected officials, unlike the boards of the Suwannee and St. Johns River Water Management Districts and JEA, who are promoting WFNF.
For those resolutions and the letters and resolutions by individual counties and the Town of Branford, as well as who you can contact, and a petition, see:
On April 15, 2026, I sent SRWMD a public records request for the “over 800 initial alternatives to the four alternatives identified for additional study” to WFNF that were mentioned in a document they sent me. I included, “For each alternative, please include at least a description, along with reasons why it was rejected, and any relevant accompanying documentation.”
Today, April 23, I got a pretty nonresponsive reply, giving no descriptions nor reasons for rejection, with the excuse that, “The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) was not the managing entity for the contracts or investigations referenced in your request.”
The response even spells out that it is nonresponsive, “This is not a full response to your request, and at this time, the District is not aware of additional responsive records in its custody.”
They don’t even say who was the managing entity. I can only guess it was the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD). So today I sent SJRWMD a similar public records request.
There is nothing in the SRWMD response that indicates they considered the proposal by Dennis J. Price, P.G., to drill aquifer rehydration wells at overflows of planted pine wetlands.
There is nothing to indicate they looked at any desalination plants other than a few in north Florida.
The actual content of the SRWMD response was two attached spreadsheets, which you can find here: Continue reading
This is probably the first most people in the Jacksonville area have heard of Water First North Florida (WFNF).
It’s great that the SRWMD and SJRWMD Executive Directors consider clean water a personal issue. They’re still pushing an overly complex, expensive, and risky 60+-mile pipeline for treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin.
There are less expensive, fast-to-build, less risky, and more scalable solutions.
For more about WFNF, including who you can contact and a petition, see:
Andrea Snody, News4JAX, April 22, 2026, Jacksonville wastewater plan could reshape North Florida water supply, Continue reading
An old seawater desalination plant in California wants to make a deal with Nevada, Arizona, or Utah to replace water no longer coming from the Colorado River.
That seems relevant to the Suwannee River Basin’s diminishing Floridan Aquifer water supply. Jacksonville has the Atlantic Ocean next door. Let it desalinate and stop pumping so much groundwater.
Also, if western states can do this, so can Jacksonville:
In addition to desalination, some states are considering recycling wastewater. In 2021, Arizona and Nevada each invested $6 million in a water recycling initiative that is in the final stages. The project, Pure Water Southern California, could eventually convert enough sewage into purified drinking water to supply 500,000 homes.
Both seawater desalination and potable reuse make much more sense than the JEA, SJRWMD, and SRWMD plan to pipe treated Jacksonville wastewater 60+ miles west into the Suwannee Basin. For more about Water First North Florida (WFNF), see:
San Diego’s Carlsbad Desalination Plant opened in 2015, so it’s more than a decade old. It cost about a billion dollars and produces about 50 million gallons a day (mgd) of drinking water.
For half a dozen bigger, less expensive seawater desalination plants around the world, see, NAQA’A Desalination Plant in Umm Al Quwain, U.A.E. 2019-07-09.
![[Old San Diego Carlsbad Desalination Plant may sell water to Arizona, Nevada, or Utah 2026-04-17]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-17--desalination-san-diego/fbmany.jpg)
Old San Diego Carlsbad Desalination Plant may sell water to Arizona, Nevada, or Utah 2026-04-17
Scott Dance, The New York Times,
April 17, 2026,
Western States Need Water. San Diego Has Extra. Will They Make A Deal?
San Diego County is shopping a surplus of desalinated seawater to Western states that are facing increasingly urgent drought and short supplies.
As most Western communities expect to grapple with water shortages this summer and fall, one is looking to share its unlikely surplus. Continue reading
![[Santa Fe River Paddle, U.S. 27 Ramp to Hollingsworth, by Poe, Gilchrist, and Ginnie Springs, Sunday, May 10, 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-05-10--santa-fe-river-paddle/fbmany.jpg)
![[Way down upon this Florida river, pollution and water withdrawals spell double trouble, --Craig Pittman, 2026-04-23]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-23--suwannee-river-endangered-wfnf/fbmany.jpg)
![[WFNF on Jacksonville TV, Andrea Snody, News4JAX 2026-04-22, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, Hugh Thomas, SRWMD, Mike Register, SJRWMD]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-22--wfnf-news4jax/many.jpg)