Category Archives: SRWMD

Florida State House District 10: Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire –WWALS 2026-08-04

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Update 2026-08-05: Now with a response from Marshall Rawson, added to the responses from June by Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson and Chase Brannan, and James Hunter Batley’s response that he dropped out of the race.

Here’s what those running for Florida State Representative District 10 have to say about clean water: Chase Brannan and Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson. Marshall Rawson did not respond, and James Hunter Batley dropped out of the race.

District 10 covers Columbia, Baker, Union, and Bradford Counties, and part of Alachua County.

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is conducting a Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire: #WWALSCleanWaterQuestionnaire

We already reported responses from District 9 candidates yesterday.

In District 10 also WFNF is not popular, WMDs in their current form are problematical, hyper-scale AI datacenters are looked upon ascance, and RTCW needs more education. For these candidates’ answers to those and other questions, see below.

For much more about Water First North Florida (WFNF), see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

If you are a candidate for state or national office in Florida this year, in the Suwannee River Basin, we sent you a questionnaire. If you didn’t get it, please let us know.

https://wwals.net/donations/contact/

[Florida State House District 10, Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire, by WWALS]
Florida State House District 10, Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire, by WWALS

Early voting for the primary starts this Saturday August 8, and Election Day is Tuesday, August 18, so we will be reporting answers for more districts whether all the candidates respond or not.

Our source for who is running is the Florida Department of State Candidate Tracking System.

https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/candidates/Index.asp

As an IRS 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit, WWALS cannot support or oppose any specific candidate for office. But we can ask all candidates in a race what they think, and publish the results. Continue reading →

Florida State House District 9: Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire –WWALS 2026-08-03

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Update 2026-08-04: Florida State House District 10: Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire –WWALS 2026-08-04.

Here’s what candidates have to say about clean water, those running for Florida State Representative District 9: Allison Tant, Jibri Knight, and Tracy Robinson.

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is conducting a Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire: #WWALSCleanWaterQuestionnaire

So far we have responses from all the candidates for this district, so that’s what we are reporting today.

If you are a candidate for state or national office in Florida this year, in the Suwannee River Basin, we sent you a questionnaire. If you didn’t get it, please let us know.

https://wwals.net/donations/contact/

[Florida State House District 9, Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire, by WWALS 2026-08-03]
Florida State House District 9, Political Candidate Clean Water Questionnaire, by WWALS 2026-08-03

Thus far, Water First North Florida (WFNF) does not seem popular among candidates.

https://wwals.net/issues/wnf

Nor does the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) in its current form.

Hyper-scale datacenters the candidates think at least need many constraints.

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

Right to Clean Water (RTCW) apparently needs more education of candidates.

https://wwals.net/issues/right-to-clean-water/

These candidates do favor having the State of Florida water quality testing all rivers.

https://wwals.net/issues/testing

Early voting for the primary starts this Saturday August 8, and Election Day is Tuesday, August 18, so we will be reporting answers for more districts whether all the candidates respond or not.

Our source for who is running is the Florida Department of State Candidate Tracking System.

https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/candidates/Index.asp

State Representative District 9

Includes Madison County and parts of Jefferson and Leon Counties.

Continue reading →

Has one fat lady sung about WFNF? @ SJRWMD 2026-07-14

This sounds definitive, “Don’t parse my words or anything like that. We’re not moving forward with Water First. All right? We’re not moving forward with Water First.”

That’s Rob Bradley, Chair of the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) Governing Board, at about 1:44:41 in SJRWMD’s video of their July 14, 2026, board meeting.

[Has one fat lady sung about WFNF? @ SJRWMD 2026-07-14, No word on cancelled contracts]
Has one fat lady sung about WFNF? @ SJRWMD 2026-07-14, No word on cancelled contracts

But right before that, he said, “I don’t know what will happen in the future. Maybe something will be reconstituted in some way shape or form.”

And right after he said “We’re not moving forward with Water First,” he also said, “That doesn’t mean that five years from now or three years from now or whatever, that some technology doesn’t come along that people who were concerned about it, it makes people less concerned about it. I think that technology is going in the right direction. We’ll see how it goes. And, um, and here we are.”

He also called anybody who thinks desalination is the answer “insane”, thus disparaging the elected Boards of County Commissions of a dozen counties in the Suwannee District, not to mention the Governor of Florida. He offered no evidence for his opinion. Since Rob Bradley was a Florida State Senator until he was term-limited in 2020, maybe insulting all the elected officials of the area he says he wants to help and the governor who appointed him to the SJRWMD board is some clever political ploy that I don’t understand.

Chair Bradley also called for public discussion, which of course I support. But he made no mention of SRWMD and SJRWMD’s one attempt at a very disappointing “Open House”. And he called for the same clique of utilities and WMDs to come up with another plan, with no mention of public input, just like the path that led to WFNF and massive public opposition.

More about those things below. We can keep depending on JEA and the WMDs to come up with political disasters like WFNF, or we can call on the legislature to provide better legal guidance and to reform the WMDs. It’s an election year. Ask every candidate about these things.

For much more about WFNF, see https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

Five or Three Years from Now

As for “five years from now or three years from now”, three years from now is about when the contractors SJRWMD hired in November 2025 are supposed to finish their first Project Milestones. Continue reading →

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

Received today.

To all interested parties,

With the recent changes to the State Water Plan, the Regional Water Planning Council membership was reduced from 30 to 15 members per Council. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) will open an online portal starting July 15 to collect nominations to the Regional Water Planning Councils. After 45 days, EPD will collect the names submitted and provide them to the appointing officials. To help further explain these changes and outline the nomination process, EPD will host a public meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, July 21st, from 12:00—1:00 p.m. at the link below.

Join Zoom Meeting https://gaepd.zoom.us/j/97748033778?pwd=H0sm1Nt7mZTtbGWSP8qQrQaN66m9bE.1

Meeting ID: 977 4803 3778
Passcode: 273513

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

To visit the nomination portal, which will go live on July 15, please see the link below:

https://waterplanning.georgia.gov/water-planning/council-nominations

If you are unable to attend, or have any questions, please email water.planning@dnr.ga.gov for additional information.

Continue reading →

Packet: Another increase in groundwater withdrawals during a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage –SJRWMD 2026-07-14

Nevermind the top of the SJRWMD web page says, “Phase III Extreme Water Shortage in Effect | View current watering restrictions.”

Nonetheless, the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) Board plans to permit increased groundwater withdrawals, at their 10 AM, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, meeting in Palatka,

You can also watch on SJRWMD’s YouTube channel:

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

Which could be useful if you have to be in Live Oak at 10 AM that same day for the Suwannee River WMD (SRWMD) board meeting.

[Packet: Another increase in groundwater withdrawals in Phase III Extreme Water Shortage --SJRWMD 2026-07-14]
Packet: Another increase in groundwater withdrawals in Phase III Extreme Water Shortage –SJRWMD 2026-07-14

You can talk in Public Comment about anything you like, including Water First North Florida (WFNF), the JEA, SJRWMD, and SRWMD plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin. https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

In the SJRWMD board packet are these agenda items:

  1. For Information: The Hydrologic Conditions Report.
  1. Consideration: Approve Consumptive Use Permit 1198-10, known as St. Johns Utility Department (SJCUD). This application is a consolidation and renewal of existing public supply permits with a proposed allocation of 21.58 mgd through 2046. If special permit conditions are met, the permitted allocation will increase from 21.58 to 27.11 mgd.
  1. For Information: Public Comment.

Page 11 of the board packet spells out how this is related to the Suwannee Basin, “…an increase in Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA) groundwater allocation from 21.58 mgd to 27.11 mgd, if the permittee meets the offset requirements of Rule 62-42.300(7), F.A.C., relating to the Implementation Strategy for the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers (LSFIR) Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs) and offsets the permittee’s share of impacts to the Lakes Brooklyn and Geneva minimum flows and levels established by Rule 40C-8.031(5), F.A.C.”

According to page 13, “The proposed increase in allocation represents a 26% increase in allocation to meet a projected population increase of approximately 74% over the permit duration.”

But according to page 16, the actual increase is even greater, “SJCUD is required to identify offset project(s) within 5 years of permit issuance for the increase in impacts associated with the increase in allocation from its 2025 demonstrated demand of 15.41 mgd to its current permitted allocation of 21.58 mgd.”

21.58 mgd is already 40% more than “its 2025 demonstrated demand of 15.41 mgd”.

And 27.11 is 76% more than that 2025 number. Very similar to that 74% population increase projection.

So it’s not as if SJRWMD or St. Johns County has figured out how to use much less water per capita. They’re just planning to increase water withdrawals by about the same percentage as they predict population will increase.

But trust them, says page 15, “The proposed source has historically and will continue to be capable of producing adequate quantities of water to meet the requirements for public supply purposes under subsections 2.3(c) and (d), A.H.”

Oh, it’s also related to Black Creek, says page 17, Continue reading →

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

The spring I’ve used to illustrate this story is somewhat upstream of Suwannee Springs. It is called Ham1019971, and is a fourth magnitude sulphur spring seen on a WWALS paddle, May 20, 2017. It is not the newly-discovered Ule Spring mentioned in the press release.

Also, Byron Herder, who owns the first-magnitude spring Alapaha River Rise, remarked on facebook, “I found a first magnitude spring on Suwannee during the drought. Bringing state total to 34.”

Speaking of drought, this Tuesday SRWMD will approve a Further modified Phase II Water Shortage Ordinance @ SRWMD 2026-07-14. Nevermind St. Johns River WMD and Southwest Florida WMD went to Phase III months ago.

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

PR, SRWMD, July 1, 2026, Drought conditions reveal new springs along the Suwannee River; see also WCTV,

LIVE OAK, FLA., JULY 1, 2026 — While ongoing drought conditions have reduced river flows across the region, unusually low water levels have also provided a unique opportunity for Suwannee River Water Management District (District) staff to locate and document several previously unknown springs.

Continue reading →

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

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]
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

Byron Herder, who owns the Alapaha River Rise, just upstream from the Alapaha River on the Suwannee River, sent this:

I don’t think I can make it Saturday. Here is some history and data on the area of put in near Gibson. Was the capitol of Florida for thousands of years before Spanish contact. Largest pyramids in Florida. Was site of San Ugustin de Urihica for Spanish missionaries. First large battle in what is now US history called Napituca.

What’s happening Saturday is Gibson County Park to SRSP Paddle, Suwannee River 2026-06-27.

https://wwals.net/?p=70541

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

Here are the images Byron sent, with sources for those that I could find. Continue reading →

Treated wastewater must benefit both an Outstanding Florida Spring and A Rural Area of Opportunity 2026-04-17

It turns out there’s a reason JEA might want to send its reclaimed wastewater into the Suwannee Basin in Water First North Florida (WFNF), according to the Florida Statutes resulting from SB 64.

All of the Suwannee Basin counties are Rural Areas of Opportunity (RAO), except Alachua County.

None of the SJRWMD counties are RAO, except Nassau in the St. Marys River Basin, and Putnam County. Not Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Flagler, Volusia, etc., or Alachua again.

And Nassau and Putnam Counties do not seem to have any Outstanding Florida Springs.

Why does this matter?

[Treated wastewater must benefit both: Outstanding Florida Spring and Rural Area of Opportunity by Florida Statutes]
Treated wastewater must benefit both: Outstanding Florida Spring and Rural Area of Opportunity by Florida Statutes

In Florida Statutes 403.064 Reuse of reclaimed water: Continue reading →

Better than treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin

Update 2026-07-20: Has one fat lady sung about WFNF? @ SJRWMD 2026-07-14.

Update 2026-07-19: A version of this story appears in the latest edition of Underwater Speleology, the Journal of the Cave Diving Section of the National Speleological Society (NSS-CDS).

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]
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 →