This is a placeholder for a forthcoming article with evidence in endnotes.
-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!
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Update 2026-06-21: Alachua County resolution against WFNF 2026-06-09.
More on how WFNF is not done yet, including that contributing projects are still going.
Cost is one of many reasons for the massive public opposition to Water First North Florida (WFNF), the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin.
The WFNF cost estimate was $1 billion in July 2025, but had ballooned to $1.1 billion by February 2026. That’s 10% inflation in six months.
Even that higher estimate expressly does not include the cost of the pipeline or eminent domain, not to mention likely lawsuits.
Another reason is that few people trust JEA to clean up the wastewater or to keep the pipeline system working without failures.
Another is that nobody got to vote on WFNF except the unelected boards of JEA and the St. Johns and Suwannee River Water Management Districts (SJRWMD and SRWMD).
Much more about WFNF here:
Julianna Bendeck, the independent florida alligator, June 14, 2026, Why the Water First North Florida project may not be done just yet: The state cancelled the $1 billion aquifer recharge proposal amid drought conditions,
Although state officials abandoned the original Water First North Florida proposal, research associated with the project continues.
Continue reading
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:
![[SRWMD has no comment on WFNF alleged cancellation; Nothing from JEA or SJRWMD or FDEP 2026-05-19]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-05-15--srwmd-no-comment-wfnf/fbmany.jpg)
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?
Update 2026-05-19: SRWMD has no comment on WFNF alleged cancellation 2026-05-15.
Vigilance, please!
Yesterday, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, we heard from Florida State Senator Corey Simon that “the Water First North Florida project is being canceled in its current form.”
That’s good news, as far as it goes. And it wouldn’t have happened without all of you who have opposed it.
But it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings, and the SRWMD Governing Board said nothing about this that same morning. I was there and spoke against WFNF along with about half a dozen other people.
Nor have any of SRWMD, SJRWMD, or JEA said anything since that I’ve seen. And what happened yesterday did nothing to repeal huge financial support for WFNF by JEA and SJRWMD.
So please don’t stop now. Keep on speaking to cities, counties, the state, members of Congress, and the unelected boards that are pushing WFNF: SRWMD, SJRWMD, JEA, plus the Jacksonville City Council.
For much more about WFNF, see:
![[More about WFNF funding in how it got ratified by sleight of bill, SB 7034 into HB 1417]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-02-25--wfnf-substituted-into-hb-1417/fbmany.jpg)
More about WFNF funding in how it got ratified by sleight of bill, SB 7034 into HB 1417
We also heard yesterday from Florida State Representative Chuck Brannan that: Continue reading
Update 2026-03-25: NAQA’A Desalination Plant in Umm Al Quwain, U.A.E. 2019-07-09.
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
![[Pictures: SRWMD WFNF, Open House, UF IFAS, Live Oak, FL, Thursday, March 19, 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-03-19--wfnf-uf-ifas-wctv/fbmany.jpg)
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. Continue reading
Update 2026-03-05: Florida Senate Bill would send treated Jacksonville wastewater into the Suwannee River Basin –WTXL 2026-03-03.
The ratifying bill passed its last committee Tuesday for the project to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin, in the Water First North Florida (WFNF) project.
Next stop, the full Senate, Thursday, tomorrow. Please call or write your Senators; see below for how.
The Senators will likely approve the bill. But the more they hear, the more likely they will advise SRWMD and SJRWMD that it must be clean or not at all, as did Senators Tracie Davis of Jacksonville and Jennifer Bradley, who represents the most affected area of the Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers.
See the Florida Channel video of the Florida Senate Rules Committee on March 3, 2026.
https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/3-3-26-senate-committee-on-rules/
At 02:31:00 they took up item 20, SB 7034, and ended up with Yeas 21 Nays 0.
Next, SB 7034 is on Special Order Calendar for the full Senate for tomorrow, Thursday, March 5, 2026, as “GB by Environment and Natural Resources Ratification of Rules of the Department of Environmental Protection.”
Please call or write your Florida state Senator.
Please be polite but firm.
These are the three Suwannee River Basin Florida State Senators: Continue reading
Update 2026-03-04: WFNF unanimous aye from Florida Senate Rules Committee 2026-03-03.
Please come to the WFNF ratification meeting of the Florida Senate Rules Committee, at 9 AM, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. That’s at the Pat Thomas Committee Room, 412 Knott Building, 404 South Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32399.
https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/Show/RC/
If we’re lucky, they’ll be done by lunchtime. There is no way to predict when they will take up SB 7034.
All of you who in meetings and online have opposed the Water First North Florida (WFNF) project to pipe treated Jacksonville wastewater into the Suwannee River Basin: here’s a chance to stop it.
If you can’t come in person, please call or write your Florida state Senator.
Either way, please be polite but firm.
Two Suwannee River Basin Florida State Senators are on the Rules Committee: Continue reading
![[WFNF not done yet --Florida Alligator 2026-06-14, Stacie Greco, Alachua County, Sarah Younger, SSGSCFL]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-06-14--alligator-wfnf/many.jpg)
![[WFNF unanimous aye from Florida Senate Rules Committee 2026-03-03, In full Senate Thursday 2026-03-05, Call or write your Senator]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-03-03--fl-senate-rules-pictures/fbmany.jpg)
![[Call to stop WFNF bill 2026-03-03, Florida Senate Rules Committee, No JAX wastewater into Suwannee Basin]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-03-03--fl-senate-rules/many.jpg)