Many people were disappointed in the informational tables about Water First North Florida (WFNF), the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin.

For much more about WFNF, see

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

Pictures: SRWMD WFNF, Open House, UF IFAS, Live Oak, FL, Thursday, March 19, 2026

WCTV’s subhead is incorrect about the Community Open House by SRWMD, 6-8 PM, Thursday, March 19, 2026, at UF-IFAS in Live Oak, Florida:

“This project wouldn’t happen until 2039”

According to their own schedule, many parts of WFNF are already happening, such as the three-year consultant wetland pilot study and siting study funded by SJRWMD in November 2025. The first pipes would start going in in 2028: “Transmission Mains to Wetland.” Pipes to recharge facilities, i.e., those in the Suwannee Basin, would start going in in 2032. It’s only the final complete turn on of the entire project that might not start until 2039.

Project Schedule, 2026-03-19 –Julia Miller for WCTV

There is a lot of confusion about 2032 vs. 2039. 2032 is the year that SB 64 says that treated wastewater can’t continue going into rivers unless it’s basically drinking water. But SB 64 had a loophole added for exactly what WFNF proposes to do.

SJRWMD E.D. Mike Register got very defensive when I noted that WFNF didn’t have to be drinking water quality. “How do you know that?” Once he ran down, I said, “Because I’ve read SB 64.”

Questions for Mike Register, E.D., SJRWMD, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

If SJRWMD and SRWMD and JEA want us to believe it will be drinking water quality, the burden of proof is on them. They’re the ones proposing an extraordinarly expensive, extensive, and potentially ecologically damaging project. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Julia Miller, WCTV, March 19, 2026, Water First North Florida project draws big crowd at public open house amid resident concerns:
This project wouldn’t happen until 2039

LIVE OAK, Fla. (WCTV) – Hundreds of people filled the North Florida Research and Education Center in Live Oak Thursday night for an open house hosted by the Suwannee and St. Johns River Water Management Districts, giving residents a chance to hear directly about The Water First North Florida Project.

Line, 2026-03-19 –Julia Miller for WCTV

Outside, Florida State Senator Corey Simon told me and many others that he had voted against SB 7034, the ratification bill for WFNF, on the Senate floor. He was not at the Senate Rules Committee meeting on March 3 because he was taking care of his elderly mother.

Florida state Senator Corey Simon, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Back to the WCTV story.

Mike Register, Executive Director of the St. Johns River Water Management District, said, “It takes a resource that one user has, and instead of just using it to solve their problems, we’re using it in a project to console the region’s problem to make sure that agriculture has enough water for the 25% growth that we expect to have.”

Well, he’s exactly correct when he says the growth that “we” expect to have. We as in the St. Johns River Water Management District, not the Suwannee Basin.

Mike Register, E.D., SJRWMD, 2026-03-19 –Julia Miller for WCTV

More from the WCTV story:

“This is going to be clean, purified water that we’re recharging, high-quality water meeting drinking water standards, so there shouldn’t be any concerns about that,” Register said. “A lot of talk has been done; why not just do ocean desalination? Ocean desalination would take over $3 billion just for the construction cost of that, not to mention the incredible increased operating cost of having to dispose of the concentrate, that’s a resulting waste product.”

Yes, brine disposal is a problem. But many other desalination projects elsewhere manage it.

Project Options, Shayne Wood, CDM SMith, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

But there’s something big missing from their poster about “Challenges with Desalination”.

Challenges with Desalination, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

It doesn’t include the fourth point from the January 2025 summary of how SRWMD and SJRWMD chose WFNF that SRWMD’s Amy Brown sent me.

6.2.2 Observations and Discussion, 2025-01-01 –SRWMD
PDF

4) Ocean desalination does not address the requirements of Senate Bill 64 to put reclaimed water to beneficial use.

SB 64 is JEA’s problem, SJRWMD’s problem, not a problem of the Suwannee Basin.

More from the WCTV story:

But some in the community, like Suwannee County resident Carol Eckert, say they’re not convinced that will be the case.

“One of the main reasons we moved here was because of the water. We come from a state where there is chlorine, pharmaceutical, chemicals, that are not filtered out of the water,” Eckert said. “The thought of having this go on with Jacksonville with this wastewater is just heartbreaking, heartbreaking.”

Carol Eckert, 2026-03-19 –Julia Miller for WCTV

District leaders like Executive Director of the Suwannee River Water Management District, Hugh Thomas, say they are simply trying to protect and restore the Suwannee River and that minimum flows and levels need to be met.

Hugh Thomas, E.D., SRWMD, 2026-03-19 –Julia Miller for WCTV

“If this project does not go forward, the current rule would call for the ratified rule, would actually require up to a 30% or in some cases more, 30% reduction in current water use for our permented water users here,” Thomas said.

Yes, that’s what he and several farmers said at the Florida Senate Rules Committee on March 3.

But they did not say a word about Jacksonville having to reduce water withdrawals.

That’s because the SRWMD Minium Flows and Levels (MFLs) only apply to the Suwanne Basin, not to the St. Johns Basin.

See the double standard? SJRWMD and JEA get to reject desalination because it doesn’t help with SB 64, which only affects the St. Johns Basin. But Jacksonville doesn’t have to reduce groundwater withdrawals to help with Suwannee Basin MFLs.

Not even considered: the proposal by Dennis J. Price, P.G. of Hamilton County, to drill aquifer recharge wells at overflows of wetlands below planted pine ditches. That would cost way less than a billion dollars and would recharge directly within the Suwannee River Basin, with no need for fancy wastewater plants or long pipelines. But wait: those wells wouldn’t help with SB 64, either.

One more paragraph from the WCTV story:

Register says the project will cost about $1.1 billion. JEA has put up a significant portion, with the district and the state also contributing.

In November 2025, the JEA Board approved $400 million for WFNF.

Mike Register told me SJRWMD is putting in $125 million.

I don’t know if that means SRWMD also has to pony up $125 million.

Even if they do, that leaves $300 million to come from somewhere else, probably FDEP, i.e., state taxes.

But that $1.1 billion total is already up from the $1 billion quoted at the July 2025 SRWMD Governing Board meeting.

There is no reason to believe the total won’t keep rising over the years.

We have also not seen any accounting for what that total includes.

I’d bet it does not include right of way acquisition for the pipelines, for example.

And they say desalination is too expensive. Without any word of comparison with projects in Texas or California or the many in the middle east.

People stayed for about half an hour after the official end time, as the meeting turned into a social gathering for opponents of WFNF.

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/

Outside

Parking lot full, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Line outside, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Inside

Pushback, 2026-03-19 –Julia Miller for WCTV

Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson of Rum 138 and Troy Roberts of SRWMD, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Local Recharge, 2026-03-19 –Julia Miller for WCTV

Could your farm be more efficient? We can help. SRWMD, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Crowd thinning out, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Union County and Hamilton County: Chris Mericle, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Hugh Thomas, E.D., SRWMD, and Chris Mericle of Hamilton County, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Where does out water come from? SJRWMD, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Why is local recharge needed?, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

Water Quality, 2026-03-19 –jsq for WWALS

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