Tag Archives: Suwannee River Water Management District

2 Replies

Be at their Live Oak HQ by 9 AM for 4. Public Comment, because it’s very early in the agenda for the July 14, 2026, Governing Board Meeting of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).

You can talk about anything you like, including the undead Water First North Florida (WFNF) plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin. See https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

If you can’t go, you can watch it live on YouTube:

https://www.mysuwanneeriver.com/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/1759

Three other agenda items are of interest:

7.A. Hydrologic Conditions Report
10. Water Resources Division Updates
11. Public Hearing for Approval of Order Number 26-004, Modified Phase II Water Shortage

Packet: Further modified Phase II Water Shortage Order, Hydrologic Conditions Report @ SRWMD 2026-07-14

Wait, didn’t they already approve a Modified Phase II back in April?

Yes, but that one is expiring, so they’re going to extend it through December 31, 2026.

Nevermind St. Johns River WMD and Southwest Florida WMD went to Phase III months ago.

SRWMD is slightly modifying the previous Modified Phase II. Looks like they could have used an editor.

They added this, “5. Add language on micro irrigation since we call it out in the press release.”

Under: Continue reading →

Some history and data on the Suwannee River near Gibson Park –Byron Herder 2026-06-25

Better than treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin

Why do three unelected boards want to spend $1.1 billion for a bad solution to two water problems?

The plan is to pipe treated wastewater from the JEA Buckman wastewater plant more than 60 miles into the Suwannee Basin to replenish wetlands and raise flows and levels in springs and rivers. It’s called Water First North Florida (WFNF),1 and it’s wasteful, slow, fragile, and based on unproven technology. It also risks the health of our fragile aquifer.

If it’s clean enough to drink, Jacksonville can drink it. If it’s not, why should the Suwannee Basin accept it to contaminate wetlands, seep into groundwater where cave divers and rare species swim, and come back up in drinking water wells and springs and rivers where people and animals swim? All twelve Suwannee Basin counties have approved a resolution against WFNF and for seawater desalination or other solutions.2

The proposal is being pushed by the unelected boards of JEA (Jacksonville’s private water and wastewater utility), and the Suwannee and St. Johns River Water Management Districts (SJRWMD and SRWMD).

The $1.1 billion cost estimate does not include building the pipelines, nor the cost of obtaining rights of way, nor operational costs. Why should people in the St. Johns Basin accept likely rate increases from cost overruns, operational costs, and lawsuits about pipelines and by neighboring landowners? JEA should line up with its own customers, “JEA is dedicated to serving our customers and delivering reliable, sustainable services at reasonable rates.”3

Better than treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin, Water First North Florida

In May we heard that, “ the Water First North Florida project is being canceled in its current form . ”4 Actually, the state legislature zeroed a $20 million line item for WFNF. 5 But that’s peanuts compared to the combined $525 million already dedicated by JEA and SJRWMD, plus more promised by FDEP.

It ain’t dead yet.

People in both basins get to vote in local, state, and federal elections. WFNF should be an issue.

Continue reading →

Alachua County resolution against WFNF 2026-06-09

The most populous county participating in many Suwannee Basin forums, Alachua County has passed a resolution opposing Water First North Florida (WFNF) and proposing alternatives. Alachua is also the second county partly in the St. Johns Basin, after Baker County.

Before their unanimous vote, the Alachua County Commissioners discussed whether this resolution adequately supported the resolution by the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council (NCFRPC), which represents all twelve counties in the Suwannee River Water Management District.

Well, the Alachua County resolution doesn’t say anything about desalination, nor anything else for Jacksonville to reduce its groundwater withdrawals. It recommends limiting irrigation to only one day a week, apparently only for Alachua County.

Still, the 800-pound gorilla has spoken, and its last recommendation is:

7) evaluate alternatives to the Water First North Florida Project along with filtration and siting strategies for beneficial re-use of reclaimed water from Jacksonville.

Alachua County resolution against WFNF 2026-06-09, Stacie Greco, landscape irrigation

For much more about WFNF, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

11:30 AM, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, Alachua County BOCC Meeting Agenda:

Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers Implementation Strategy/Water First North Florida Project Resolution – 26-00395

Continue reading →

WFNF not done yet –Florida Alligator 2026-06-14

Update 2026-06-21: Alachua County resolution against WFNF 2026-06-09.

More on how WFNF is not done yet, including that contributing projects are still going.

Cost is one of many reasons for the massive public opposition to Water First North Florida (WFNF), the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin.

The WFNF cost estimate was $1 billion in July 2025, but had ballooned to $1.1 billion by February 2026. That’s 10% inflation in six months.

Even that higher estimate expressly does not include the cost of the pipeline or eminent domain, not to mention likely lawsuits.

Another reason is that few people trust JEA to clean up the wastewater or to keep the pipeline system working without failures.

Another is that nobody got to vote on WFNF except the unelected boards of JEA and the St. Johns and Suwannee River Water Management Districts (SJRWMD and SRWMD).

WFNF not done yet –Florida Alligator 2026-06-14, Stacie Greco, Alachua County, Sarah Younger, SSGSCFL

Much more about WFNF here:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

Julianna Bendeck, the independent florida alligator, June 14, 2026, Why the Water First North Florida project may not be done just yet: The state cancelled the $1 billion aquifer recharge proposal amid drought conditions,

Although state officials abandoned the original Water First North Florida proposal, research associated with the project continues.
Continue reading →

Drought dire; GRU water withdrawal increase approved; no response about WFNF @ SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09

Asked directly about WFNF, what’s happening with the $125 million and have you cancelled the consultant contracts, SJRWMD had no response.

Remember that whenever somebody tries to tell you WFNF is cancelled. It’s just laying low.

That’s Water First North Florida, the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin to seep down from wetlands into the Floridan Aquifer and come back up in springs, rivers, and drinking water wells, at the June 9, 2026, meeting in Palatka of the Governing Board of the St. Johns River Water Management District.

What they did do, after their Hydrologic Conditions Report showed how dire the drought is, they approved an increase in the amount of groundwater GRU can withdraw for Gainesville.

Drought dire, yet approved GRU water withdrawal increase, No response about WFNF @ SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09

And they praised GRU’s wastewater reclamation, i.e., Sweetwater, as a model. They didn’t say, but that’s one of the precedents cited in https://waterfirstnorthfl.com: “Similar projects like the Sweetwater Wetlands Project in Alachua County and the Black Creek Water Resource Development Project in Clay County have successfully improved water quality, restored wetland habitats, and provided community benefits – proving this approach works for North Florida.”

Nevermind that, as Suwannee County BOCC pointed out, “You assert that this method has been “proven” at the Sweetwater Wetlands Project and Black Creek Water Resource Development. That is simply not true as both of those projects use wetlands to cleanse run off — not chemically “treated” water. To be blunt, those projects are not receiving sewer water like you are planning to use for the Water First North Florida Project. Even if they were similar projects, the difference in scale compared to Water First North Florida negates any reasonable comparison.”

For more about WFNF, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

Here’s another question. Continue reading →

Speak about WFNF, Taxes, etc. at SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09

Update 2026-06-18: Drought dire; GRU water withdrawal increase approved; no response about WFNF @ SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09.

You can speak about WFNF, taxes, etc. at the SJRWMD Governing Board Meeting,

10 AM, Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Board Room, SJRWMD District Headquarters, 4049 Reid Street, Palatka, FL 32177

Don’t be late: 5. Public Comment is very early on the agenda.

So far, the Suwannee River Water Management Districdt (SRWMD) has no comment on the alleged cancellation of WFNF. We’ve heard nothing at all from the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), which has dedicated $125 million to WFNF. Maybe you’d like to ask them what they are doing with WFNF.

How much of SJRWMD’s own tax revenue comes from property tax, and how much of that will be affected if the voters in November approve the Florida Homestead Property Tax Exemption?

Speak about WFNF, Taxes, etc., at SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09, Or GRU 15% increase groundwater withdrawal affecting Suwannee Basin

Public Comment is right after this item:

Consideration: Approve Consumptive Use Permit 11339-8, known as Murphree WTP – GRU. This application is a renewal of an existing public supply permit with an increase in the Upper Floridan aquifer groundwater allocation from 30.0 million gallons per day (mgd) to 34.592 mgd, through the year 2056.

That’s a 15% increase from 2056 for Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU). From the same Upper Floridan Aquifer everybody drinks from in the Suwannee Basin. With direct effects on the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Associated Priority Springs minimum flows and levels, as spelled out later in the board packet.

There is no mention of PFAS forever chemicals or pharmaceuticals being removed from the “reclaimed” wastewater that ends up in the aquifer. One of the reclaimed wastewater routes goes through Sweetwater Wetlands Park, which WFNF claims as a precedent.

Maybe you’d like to talk about that.

On packet page 9: Continue reading →

SRWMD Governing Board Meeting 2026-06-09

There’s nothing on the SRWMD agenda Tuesday about Water First North Florida (WFNF), the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin.

But you can speak in item “4. Public Comment” about most anything. Don’t be late: it’s very near the start of the meeting.

That’s 9 AM, Tuesday, June 9, 2026,
at SRWMD HQ, 9225 Co Rd 49, Live Oak, FL 32060.

You can watch remotely on SRWMD’s YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@SRWMD

SRWMD Governing Board Meeting, 4. Public Comment, 9 AM, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, SRWMD HQ, 9225 Co Rd 49, Live Oak, FL

Elsewhere on the agenda there are:

https://www.mysuwanneeriver.com/Archive.aspx?ADID=1753

5. Consent Agenda Item No. 22 – Task Work Assignment with Water & Air Research, Inc (see below)
7.A. Hydrologic Conditions Report
21. Water Resources Division Updates
Workshop Following Board Meeting: Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Tentative Budget Presentation

Plus some details about surplus lands as well as work at various parks.

Last month twelve people spoke about WFNF, but the Minutes record them each only as Water First North Florida concerns. You can see them in SRWMD’s own video. They were: Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.

Tag Archives: Suwannee River Water Management District

Nominating Portal, Regional Water Planning Council –GA-DNR 2026-07-15

Drought reveals two new springs on the Suwannee River –SRWMD 2026-07-01

Further modified Phase II Water Shortage Ordinance @ SRWMD 2026-07-14

Some history and data on the Suwannee River near Gibson Park –Byron Herder 2026-06-25

Better than treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin

Alachua County resolution against WFNF 2026-06-09

WFNF not done yet –Florida Alligator 2026-06-14

Drought dire; GRU water withdrawal increase approved; no response about WFNF @ SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09

Speak about WFNF, Taxes, etc. at SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09

SRWMD Governing Board Meeting 2026-06-09