If it was really cancelled, you’d think SRWMD, SJRWMD, and JEA would say so, and announce they have cancelled any outstanding contracts, such as the one SJRWMD let on November 12, 2025, for $2.17 million for a consultant to study WFNF for three years.

Instead, we’ve heard nothing from JEA or SJRWMD, and the Executive Director of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) has no comment.

For much more about WFNF, including which Suwannee District counties oppose it (all 12 of them) and which have passed their own letters or resolutions of opposition (7 of them), as well as who you can contact, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

SRWMD has no comment on WFNF alleged cancellation; Nothing from JEA or SJRWMD or FDEP 2026-05-19

Stew Lilker, Columbia County Observer, May 15, 2026, Water First North Florida: The $1.1 Billion Project That No One Likes, Except Insiders, Is on the Ropes
Where is it now and how did it get there?

[Links added by jsq.]

North Florida — The Water First North Florida Project, a plan to move Jacksonville’s mostly treated wastewater from the Jacksonville area into the Suwannee Valley aquifer, is going back to the drawing board, according to State Senator Corey Simon.

Senator Simon released his letter on his Facebook page at 12:55 pm on May 12.

The Suwannee River Water Management District (SWMD) monthly meeting convened at 9 am and concluded at 11:37 am on the same day. There was no mention of Sen. Simon’s letter during the meeting, which had many speakers objecting to the Water First North Florida Project (WFNF).

SRWMD Board, 2026-05-12 –jsq for WWALS

Sen. Simon’s letter spread across North Florida social media like a field fire on a windy day. The Senator claimed, among other things: “the Water First North Florida project is being canceled in its current form,” and that he “asked that all parties go back to the drawing board.”

It is unclear when, if, or how the SRWMD received Sen. Simon’s letter. Later in the day, your reporter requested a response from Executive Director Hugh Thomas regarding the “rumor” of the project’s cancellation. The upper management of the District has played it ‘cagey’ about the WFNF project from the beginning, and the District’s response to this request was no exception. Executive Director Hugh Thomas refused a direct answer. All that the district put out was, “The District is aware of the letter. At this time, we do not have additional comment regarding the project. Any additional questions can be directed to Senator Simon’s office.”

The whole article is well worth reading.

He got a response from Sen. Jennifer Bradley’s office. Remember she, along with Sen. Corey Simon and Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith voted against WFNF ratification in the Florida Senate on March 9, 2026.

Accordingly[sic] to Senator Jennifer Bradley’s office: after 5 pm yesterday (May 14), the Senate and House conference spread sheets were finally aligned and funding for WFNF was officially removed from this year’s Florida budget.

See the House of Representatives Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee/Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government Conference Spreadsheet, where line 152, labeled “G/A-Water First Nfl”, got zeroed out.

And it turns out it was Stew Lilker who told Rep. Chuck Brannan about Sen. Simon’s letter.

Remember that the WFNF ratification bill HB 1417 passed unanimously in the Florida House, and Brannan, along with all the other Florida State Representatives, voted for it on March 4 and March 12, 2026.

For more about how WFNF shifted between bills, see More about WFNF funding in how it got ratified by sleight of bill 2026-02-25.

https://wwals.net/?p=70311

But I agree with what Stew quotes him as saying about which unelected bodies cooked up WFNF and how they tried to hide it:

It is also unclear when Representative Brannon received Senator Simon’s news. At 4 pm, your reporter spoke with Representative Brannan’s office, which knew nothing about the letter. Your reporter emailed a copy of the letter to them.

About a half-hour later, your reporter heard from Rep. Brannan. He explained he just got out of a funeral.

Rep. Brannan said, “You know, I had always fought to keep that North Florida Water First project out of the House of Representatives budget. It has always been at zero, and as of today, still remains at zero in the Florida budget. Just a few minutes ago, the Senate took $20 million out of their budget. They had $20 million seed money in their budget for that project, and they just removed it.”

Rep. Brannon mentioned that the project was killed for this year, adding, “I was gonna fight — go down with the ship — fight to the end to keep it outta the house budget where it’s always been at zero.”

Rep. Brannan was not easy on the Water Management Districts (WMDs), Suwannee and St. Johns, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He said, “That thing has always been driven by the water management districts…cooked up by them…with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.”

Representative Brannan also took exception to the lack of communication between the WMDs and the legislature. “I was aggravated that the water management districts had never come to the legislature…They certainly didn’t talk to representatives in this area about it, that I know.”

He added, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings, and the budget probably won’t be done officially ‘till another week or so, but right now it’s zero money in the House and zero in the Senate.”

Finally, Rep. Brannon said, “It [the project] was below the radar…the WMD’s, they act like they didn’t know anything about it, but they were complicit in it.”

Maybe Rep. Brannan is reading WWALS posts, since I had already used the fat lady sings angle. Of course, it’s a common saying in baseball and elsewhere.

Stew’s story cites the October 14, 2025, SRWMD Board meeting as the first public reveal of WFNF.

Actually, it turned up in the July 8, 2026 SRWMD Board meeting. I went to that one for a completely different item.

In an unremarkable agenda item about “Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Project Update”, SRWMD Deputy Executive Director for Water Resources Amy Brown presented slides that halfway through changed from “North Florida Regional Recharge Project” to “Water First North Florida”.

Water First North Florida, 2025-07-08 –SRWMD Staff

Those slides were not in the board packet. I filed a WWALS Public Records request, got them, and published them. Public opposition was immediate and has only grown ever since.

As Stew put it:

SRWMD Hits the WFNF Promotion Trail: It was not pretty

John Quarterman, WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS), the Suwannee Riverkeeper, began beating the drum, shaking the trees, and informing the River people that if the Water Management Districts had their way, 40 Million Gallons a Day of Jacksonville’s processed wastewater (not drinking quality water) would be pumped into the Suwannee River Basin.

If you want to trace this project farther back in SRWMD or SJRWMD agendas and minutes, it’s probably best to look for “Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Project Update” or “North Florida Regional Recharge Project”.

Or under the umbrella term “North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan” (NFRWSP) as in the North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan Project Conceptualization Partnership document of January 2025. I got that one from Amy Brown after I had a zoom meeting with her and Hugh Thomas, after they insisted for many weeks that I meet with SRWMD.

That document reveals that in 2024:

Decision-makers from the Partnership used a series of facilitated workshops to discuss the technical outcomes at each step of the process (Table 2.1). Through progressive, data-driven screening, workshop dialogue, and consideration of both individual and collective value of alternatives, the Partnership was able to move from over 800 initial alternatives to the four alternatives identified for additional study.

Table 2.1 Workshops with Sponsor Organizations, 2025-01-01 –SJRWMD, SRWMD, JEA, et al.

That’s six meetings from January through September 2024. I have yet to find anybody outside SRWMD, SJRWMD, JEA, or their corporate partners or contractors who even knew about those meetings, much less were invited to attend them. So much for peer review.

Meanwhile, remember that it ain’t over yet.

Stew sums it up:

The legislature’s $0 appropriation only zeroes out the state’s direct contribution. Other funding sources remain intact for now:

The JEA Board: $400 million approved in November 2025

St. Johns River Water Management District: $100—125 million committed

Total district/JEA commitments: roughly $1.1 billion project cost

The legislature does not directly control those existing district/utility budgets.

The $1.1 billion is the promoters’ estimate of total project cost, not funds committed. Which, incidentally, was $1 billion in July 2025, up to $1.1 billion by February 2026. That’s 10% inflation in six months. And those estimates explicitly do not include costs of building the 60+ mile pipline(s). Imagine what WFNF might really cost in 13 years if it ever started delivering water.

The legislature also does not control that $2.17 million for a consultant to study WFNF for three years that SJRWMD let on November 12, 2025. The SJRWMD board packet says the funding source is “DEP”, as in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The JEA Board meets this morning, May 19, 2026, at 9 AM. There is nothing about WFNF on its agenda nor in its board packet. You’d think there would be if WFNF were actually cancelled.

Please read Stew’s entire article.

ttps://www.columbiacountyobserver.com/master_files/Florida_News_2026/20260515-wfnf-project-that-no-one-likes-is-on-the-ropes.html

 -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/

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