This was an op-ed in the Lake City Reporter, February 19, 2026, by Dennis J. Price, P.G., of Hamilton County, Florida. It’s about Water First North Florida (WFNF), the SRWMD and SJRWMD plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into wetlands in the Suwannee River Basin.

He does not want the Suwannee River Basin to continue to be a giant water tower for Jacksonville, through the Floridan Aquifer. He suggests JEA could get drinking water from the St. Johns River instead of withdrawing it from groundwater.

Of JEA could get on with seawater desalination, as south Florida already does.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Aquifer recharge is needed

To the editor:

Recently the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) proposed a plan to recharge water into our drinking water aquifer, the Floridan Aquifer. The plan is being coordinated with the St. John’s River Water Management District (SJRWMD). Duval County has a private company that supplies almost all the water used in Duval County. With the city of Jacksonville and outlying suburbs using most of that water, the company is the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA). The SJRWMD is the permitting authority that controls the amount of water the JEA can pump. There are practically no restraints placed on the JEA. The amount of water the JEA pumps is enormous, 120 million gallons per day. Growth in Duval County is growing rapidly, extending those suburbs towards and into Baker County.

Aquifer recharge is needed –Dennis J. Price, P.G. 2026-02-22, but Jacksonville pumping is the biggest problem

Our aquifer is in limestone. It is cracked and fissured by several processes that occurred over the past several million years. The amount of cracks and connected fissures determine how fast water can move through the aquifer. The aquifer under Duval County has 2 problems. It doesn’t flow quickly from the north and from the south to the pumps and the Atlantic Ocean on the east is a barrier to fresh water flow. But water does flow easier from west to east, in other words from our direction to Jacksonville. Jacksonville is faced with a water problem. The wells closest to the coast are pulling salt water into the wells. USGS studies from 1990 based on 1980’s data shows that Jacksonville was already pulling water from underneath us and flowing to them. They have begun to move their production wells closer to Baker County. With Jacksonville’s growth, these new wells produce more water and therefore draws down the water in our aquifer.

Figure C3: Aquifer surface change due to withdrawals in north Florida and south Georgia

Through the years, the aquifer below Columbia County has been drawn down about 20 feet. That 20 feet of water is very important in keeping our rivers, lakes and springs flowing. The loss of that 20 feet has caused the spring flow at White Springs in Hamilton County to (for all practical purposes) cease flowing. Water levels have impacted springs along the Santa Fe River. Due to the effects of the loss of water to the springs and rivers, the SRWMD puts a moratorium on new water use. This in turn causes growth problems for industries that might need water in their operations. In other words, our growth is curtailed because of Jacksonville’s growth.

River Side White Sulphur Springs Bathhouse, 2018-05-12 –jsq for WWALS

It is absolutely critical that we do something to begin recharging our aquifer.

In all fairness, the loss of water in the aquifer is not all Jacksonville’s fault. The phosphate mine in Hamilton uses about 20 million gallons per day. They have been doing this from about 1966, all day, every day, year after year. In return they do provide local jobs and they will be shutting down in a few more years. The mining process has created about 20,000 acres of clay settling areas that reduce recharge under them to practically zero.

There are extensive large drainage systems all through the mining area that capture rainwater and shallow water with most discharging out Swift Creek and Hunters Branch

Forestry operations have also had an impact on the aquifer, their impact is a side effect of forestry practices. Beginning in the late 1800’s, logging cypress was in full swing. In order to get to the trees, companies and individual land-owners drained the swamps to the best of their ability; drainage features were never plugged. Later in the 1950’s when pine plantations began, every effort was made to move water off the land as fast as possible and into the swamps which then moved water right into the local rivers. This water would have remained in the swamps and upland soils and been a major source of recharge. Forestry also provides local jobs.

Map: Flatwood Recharge Wells
PDF

Farming and growth, in all the northern counties, also made every effort to move water out of one area and into local rivers and streams and into the Gulf or Atlantic. Many of the small towns have drainage ditches through them helping to keep communities from flooding. Every roadside ditch also removes water into the creeks and rivers.

In all the northern counties, from Duval to Hamilton, including Nassau, Baker, Bradford, Union and northern Alachua county, there is a Geologic formation consisting of thick layers of clays, sands, limestone overlying the Floridan aquifer, restricting the ability of rain water to percolate down and recharge our drinking water aquifer. As a perspective, normally, practically every bit of rain water that falls on southern Columbia and Suwannee counties recharges into the aquifer, this is about 50 inches a year. Studies by the SJRWMD have shown the recharge rate in the northern counties is about 8 inches a year. It’s not hard to imagine what the recharge rate would be if every ditch was plugged. Or what the Aquifer lev-els would rebound to if the mine shut down and Jacksonville found other sources for water.

We, in Columbia and Hamilton counties are essentially a giant water tower for everyones use with the greatest artificial flow going towards Jacksonville. Aquifer water levels in Northern Columbia and Hamilton are the highest levels in north Florida.

So JEA (Jacksonville) is going to build a billion dollar system to clean and pump their waste-water over to Columbia County and drill wells and recharge their waste water into our aquifer to help us out, so we can grow.

As I was saying, we have the highest aquifer levels around. From northern Columbia and Hamilton Counties, the water flows in all directions by gravity and pumping, towards lower elevations. Where the JEA is proposing the recharge wells in Columbia County, all that water will flow south and west and not back towards them. They will continue to take the best of our water towards them.

I have a suggestion, let them diversify their water sources. Let JEA take water from the St. John’s River and treat it to drinking water standards and use it. If Philadelphia can get their water from the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, for crying out loud, let them put that treatment plant to work on their river. That 60 million gallons they want to help us out with, why not recharge the aquifer at the border of the SJRWMD and the SRWMD so at least the water would flow back towards them. That amount of water pumped into the aquifer every day would create their own little water tower, helping to slow down the flow from us to them.

I have left farming and our cities and towns, out of the uses that draw down our aquifer. In order to live on this planet we need food, oxygen and water, without any one of these, we cannot exist.

We, in the Suwannee River Water Management District area, should be more proactive in working with the timber companies to plug ditches and return stable water levels in the vast swamps of northern Columbia and Hamilton counties.

Learning how to capture excess flood waters that leave the swamp, clean and recharge that water. The District has been proactive for many years, working with farmers to use water more efficiently. Columbia County was very pro-active at the beginning of discussions, more than 10 years ago, when Duval County’s role in our water loss was first brought to light, although eventually succumbing to the futility of trying to get JEA to do anything meaningful.

Dennis Price White Springs

For more by Dennis, see Video: How Humans Affect the Aquifer, a WWALS Webinar by Dennis Price, 2025-06-19.

https://wwals.net/?p=67890

For why WFNF is good for JEA but not for the Suwannee Basin, see Water First North Florida at Columbia County Commission 2026-02-19.

https://wwals.net/?p=69442

 -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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