Drought Workshop Presentation –SRWMD 2025-12-09

In their Drought Conditions Workshop on December 9, 2025, SRWMD talked about starting an outreach campaign, “highlighting the water deficit that we are in, and our drought, and the need for efficiency, and here are some possible measures that you could implement, from a voluntary standpoint.”

But they are not yet willing to declare even the statutory Water Shortage Warning or Advisory, which has only voluntary measures.

Drought Workshop Presentation –SRWMD 2025-12-09, No water withdrawal limits yet, Maybe an outreach campaign soon

If the current drought is not severe enough to warrant even a statutory Warning, why are SRWMD and SJRWMD forging ahead with their billion-dollar Water First North Florida project to pipe treated Jacksonville wastewater into the Suwannee River Basin to recharge the Floridan Aquifer here? And what is being done to remove the PFAS, drugs, and articifical sweeteners that typically pass right through wastewater treatment?

Thanks to SRWMD Board members Charles Keith, Larry Sessions, and William Lloyd, they did talk about possibly instituing limits on water withdrawals, considering that the past 10 years have been the hottest on record.

The presenter, Amy Brown, Deputy Executive Director, Water Resources, was clear that they have not even advised voluntary limits for the biggest group of users, which are in agriculture.

Her slides, received from SRWMD in response to a WWALS public records request, are on the WWALS website, with images below in this post.

SRWMD Executive Director Hugh Thomas did note that the water withdrawal permits SRWMD issues have standard conditions that can require limits on water withdrawals. But “it’s never fun to engage with the permittee and say, hey, you’re going to have to cut back because we’re in a water shortage period.”

You can see Amy Brown, Deputy Executive Director, Water Resources, present these slides to the SRWMD Board in their own video of their December 9, 2025, Workshop, at 1:45:58:

https://www.youtube.com/live/6LDIIdFqxaY?si=LnRZUqNL0imphDJz&t=6358

What about reducing water withdrawals?

At 2:14:10, you can hear Charles Keith asking about increasing drought. He is the Secretary and Treasurer of SRWMD,

…appointed by Governor Rick Scott to represent as an At Large Basin member. Mr. Keith is the owner of American Pawn Brokers, Inc. He received his bachelor’s degree from Armstrong State University.

https://www.youtube.com/live/6LDIIdFqxaY?si=1eJzVZYfL0iY4PKm&t=8050

Charles Keith, Sec. Treas. advocates reducing water withdrawals, 2025-12-09 @ SRWMD Board –jsq for WWALS

He wanted to know whether District staff were tracking water usage and drought indicators.

Charles Keith with graph of Upper Floridan Aquifer, Lake City, 2025-12-09 @ SRWMD Board –jsq for WWALS

Amy Brown responded that “the 1950s was a very dry time here.”

Amy Brown responds about reducing withdrawals, 2025-12-09 @ SRWMD Board –jsq for WWALS

She also said there was “a relatively significant drying period” in the late 1990s and early 2000s, then in 2011 with not much recovery in between. She said consistently in the records that was the driest time. (I’m guessing she meant 2011.)

She added, “And again, the concern is the combination of climate and water use was driving us into a kind of unilateral direction.” She said we have seen recovery since then, but everyone remains concerned. They’re doing all sorts of monitoring. They’re looking at linkages for example with evapotranspiration.

DOT_Lake_City UFA 01/01/1982 to 01/01/2026, 2025-12-09 –Amy Brown @ SRWMD
PDF

Charles Keith said his concern was we’re issuing permits in the good times. If we start seeing closer spans of drought… He indicated the hurricanes were unfortunate but good in the sense that they caused recharge.

He got to the crux of the matter:

I’m just curious. If there’s a trend for more frequent drought periods, and we adjust our new permitting to address that? If the amount of use is the only other option that we can come up with for the rapid drought, how do we approach that, because most of our permitting is done in the good times, when we’ve got plenty of groundwater. But is it affecting the drought more rapidly.

Amy Brown fell back on “We know that there are long-term cycles that impact Florida’s weather.“ And “Nobody fully understands.”

Charles Keith referred to the graph in the previous presentation by the University of Florida, showing the last ten years were the hottest on record.

The ten most recent years are the warmest on record.

The 10 Most Recent Years are the Warmest on Record!!, 2025-12-09 –NASA by UFL @ SRWMD

Charles Keith added,

I hate to always react to an emergency. I’d like that we have some basis. You know we can’t forsee the future, but we can be more prepared for the future.

Amy Brown said they were already doing that by looking at long time-frames.

If we’re seeing shifts in rainfall and flows associated with that rainfall, then that would get baked into our process as we’re looking at these other factors. And yes, we should not permit with the presumption that conditions will be wetter than they are, or even. Again, the goal would be to permit understanding the full range of conditions. But it is also recognized that there are times in Florida where you’re going to have rain below average, and that you may need to take extra measures that you wouldn’t otherwise need to take. So that most of the time, greater than 90% of the time, water is sufficent to meet the needs that are laid out.

So what were the Minimum Flow and Levels Workshops about? Why did the District set the minimum for the Upper and Middle Suwannee River as just enough for Gulf Sturgeon to spawn?

Anyway, Charles Keith said he agreed with what Amy Brown just said (not clear with what part).

He continued:

It seems that a lot of time things are engineered to the nth degree, just for perfect conditions. And Warren and I have talked about it, that when some of these building plans are done, and systems are maintained, it works. But people tend to, just whatever you need, yes, yes, yes, ’till you get it, and then they don’t maintain it.
So if we engineer everything to the nth degree, we’re very fragile when it comes time for a drought.

Amy Brown said one of the key components the Water Shortage Rule is the Hydrologic Conditions Review that Robbie presents at each Board meeting.

The Hydrologic Conditions Report that was presented at the Board meeting that same morning showed pretty clearly that we’re in a drought, and the U.S. Drought Monitor since then does not show much if any improvement, since we’ve only got one weekend of rain.

https://wwals.net/?p=69034

SRWMD E.D. Hugh Thomas spoke up about standard conditions that permits are issued with.

E.D. Hugh Thomas responds about reducing withdrawals, 2025-12-09 @ SRWMD Board –jsq for WWALS

Granted, it’s never fun to engage with the permittee and say, hey, you’re going to have to cut back because we’re in a water shortage period, to that extent. But we do have the standard conditions that are part of our permitting ageement with our permittees to that extent.
And certainly the mission of the District is to try to identify water supply, the projects that y’all have heard some about.
But we don’t control the rain, to that extent. And that certainly is what drives our recharge and our available groundwater.

I thought the mission of SRWMD as part of the Department of Environmental Protection was to protect the rivers and springs and wildlife, not to mention drinking water. But I remember back on February 4, 2016, when I spoke with a previous SRWMD E.D., Noah Valenstein, he said that he believed that Florida law requires him and SRWMD to provide water resources for economic development. Full stop. Apparently that hasn’t changed much.

Water First North Florida

Regarding projects heard about, I’m guessing he was referring to the Water First North Florida project to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into wetlands in the Suwannee River Basin to recharge the aquifer and springs such as the Ichetucknee Headspring. In the Board meeting, he had said SRWMD and SJRWMD are forging ahead with that project.

Water First North Florida project is moving forward, 2025-12-09, SRWMD E.D. to SRWMD Board –jsq for WWALS

Which is not a popular project. My facebook post about that during the SRWMD Board meeting has gotten 180 likes, 204 comment, and 270 shares. That’s 100 times the average non-video WWALS facebook post. Almost all of the commenters are against the project.

https://www.facebook.com/Wwalswatershed/posts/pfbid0Kac4SPMCrbaZW8WccRAuLDEsyRjipX1EoWRcMQqAPDoMS4oUEozyvPLK34aLGzF7l

SRWMD is already doing publicity about that project.

https://www.facebook.com/SRWMD/posts/pfbid0ZqYX2zCgUJ1Wiv6V4Gi9Ma9FgYN9UvbK6LLc7iyq5nGVUjFgjE3ZJkmg93f835xul

Maybe soon they’ll start doing PR about drought conditions.

I have sent Hugh Thomas some questions about how that project will deal with contaminants that wastewater treatment typically does not remove, such as PFAS, drugs, and artificial sweeteners.

Agriculture Efficiency Requirements

Amy Brown proceeded with her presentation, noting that the District does have standing Efficiency Requirements.

Efficiency Requirements, 2025-12-09 –Amy Brown @ SRWMD
PDF

Those don’t say anything about agriculture, mining, or water bottling.

Larry Sessions spoke up about agricultural irrigation efficiency, at 2:25:09.

https://www.youtube.com/live/6LDIIdFqxaY?si=oXdWkgGbUky7w5ym&t=8709

Larry Sessions, Suwannee, about reducing withdrawals, 2025-12-09 @ SRWMD Board –jsq for WWALS

He is the City Manager of Live Oak and was reappointed June 2022 to represent the Upper Suwannee Basin.

Previously, he was the administrator of the Suwannee Valley Transit Authority, a Suwannee County County Commissioner, and member of the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council. Sessions attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the United States Army before receiving an Honorable Discharge.

Larry Sessions referred back to the page 29 graph.

Average District Use by Month, % of Annual Ave., Agriculture and Non-Ag, 2025-12-09 @ SRWMD Board –jsq for WWALS

He noted that graph shows that March 15 to July 15 is your ag. use of irrigation. He wanted to know:

Has there been any recommendations sent out to farmers to say could you irrigate at night instead of any in the daytime. You know, to keep evaporation from happening.

Amy Brown said no they haven’t. The process she was presenting might lead to such recommendations.

She referred back to E.D. Thomas speaking about drought and efficiency in June 2012.

SRWMD Drought Outreach Campaign

E.D. Thomas added,

The District is going to move forward with is an outreach campaign, an awareness campaign, even more so than where we are at today, in informing people of our resource conditions. But highlighting the water deficit that we are in, and our drought, and the need for efficiency, and here are some possible measures that you could implement, from a voluntary standpoint.

It wasn’t clear when they would start this campaign.

He added,

People know it’s dry, but they don’t necessarily, because they don’t deal with it every day like we do, they don’t necessarily associate our groundwater conditions with what they’re seeing on top. Yet, when they turn on an irrigation system, or when they turn on their tap, that’s the source of that water.

William Lloyd wanted to know about data on ag. system.

William Lloyd, Alachua, about reducing withdrawals, 2025-12-09 @ SRWMD Board –jsq for WWALS

He lives in High Springs and was reappointed in August 2023 to represent the Santa Fe and Waccasassa River Basin.

Lloyd is Vice President of Suwannee Valley Feeds. Previously, he was a manager with Suwannee Valley Feeds and a Dairy Specialist with ADM Alliance Nutrition. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University.

He wanted to know about piping set up to supply greater volume, often in six days running all the time.

You woul have to engineer them to now supply a higher flow because you’re going to reduce the amount of time you’re allowing to put that on.

Amy Brown referred to that as a balancing act.

Several Board members weighed in on the difficulties of doing it.

Nobody mentioned reducing water withdrawals for mining or water bottling.

Smart Soaker Presentation

Regarding the good times, see the other item in the Workshop, “University of Florida Smart Soaker Presentation”.

Smart Soaker Presentation, 2025-12-09 –University of Florida @ SRWMD

The ten most recent years are the warmest on record.

The 10 Most Recent Years are the Warmest on Record!!, 2025-12-09 –NASA by UFL @ SRWMD

So warm that cows don’t produce milk well without intervention.

High temperatures + Humidity means Negative impacts on cow health and productivity, 2025-12-09 –UFL @ SRWMD

Intervention meaning not just keeping cows in the barn with ventilation, but also soaking them in water when they get too hot.

To Optimize the Performance of Dairy Cows: Shed + Ventilation + Water, 2025-12-09 –UFL @ SRWMD

That’s what the Smart Soaker Presentation was about: optimizing soaking cows only when they start to get too hot.

Welcome to the 21st century, where cows require sophisticated intervention to do what they’ve done for thousands of years before. Because of increasing temperatures, which also produce drought.

There are more images below.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Short Link:

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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

What about reducing water withdrawals?

Water First North Florida

Agriculture Efficiency Requirements

SRWMD Drought Outreach Campaign

Smart Soaker Presentation

December_2025_Drought_Workshop_Presentation

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