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!
https://wwals.net/donations/
The most populous county participating in many Suwannee Basin forums, Alachua County has passed a resolution opposing Water First North Florida (WFNF) and proposing alternatives. It is also the second county partly in the St. Johns Basin to do so, after Baker County.
Before their unanimous vote, the Alachua County Commissioners discussed whether this resolution adequately supported the resolution by the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council (NCFRPC), which represents all twelve counties in the Suwannee River Water Management District.
Well, the Alachua County resolution doesn’t say anything about desalination, nor anything else for Jacksonville to reduce its groundwater withdrawals. It recommends limiting irrigation to only one day a week, apparently only for Alachua County.
Still, the 800-pound gorilla has spoken, and its last recommendation is:
7) evaluate alternatives to the Water First North Florida Project along with filtration and siting strategies for beneficial re-use of reclaimed water from Jacksonville.
![[Alachua County resolution against WFNF 2026-06-09, Stacie Greco, landscape irrigation]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-06-09--alachua-county-wfnf/fbmany.jpg)
Alachua County resolution against WFNF 2026-06-09, Stacie Greco, landscape irrigation
For much more about WFNF, see:
11:30 AM, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, Alachua County BOCC Meeting Agenda:
Continue reading
- Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers Implementation Strategy/Water First North Florida Project Resolution – 26-00395
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
I keep getting asked for the rezoning application for the potential datacenter site on Coleman Road in Lowndes County.
Please note that there is no application yet for a datacenter in Lowndes County.
The rezoning application for the potential site is in the board packets for the June 30, 2025, Planning Commission meeting and the July 7-8, 2025, Lowndes County Commission meetings.
These were obtained from Lowndes County in response to an open records request from Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE):
In case it’s not obvious, see this file:
Images of each page are below.
They include the relevant pages about the target zoning, M-1 (Light Manufacturing), from the Lowndes County Unified Land Development Code (ULDC). Continue reading
The Local Industrial Development Authority took two Irwin County Commission meetings to approve.
The ordinance says the Authority is limited to the unincorporated parts of Irwin County and that it is to have nine Directors.
For the June 3 meeting where they finally approved that ordinance, we got nothing but a Public Notice: no agenda, no board packet.
But in response to an open records request, we got an extensive board packet for the June 1, 2026, meeting. It also includes a household trash burn ordinance, a solar ordinance, an ordinance limiting appraisals for low-income properties, an employee performance evaluation form, and a job posting for a County Administrator. That last item is not on the agenda, but it is in the packet.
These items are on the WWALS website. Images of each page are below, except I have omitted the 22 blank pages. Continue reading
There’s nothing on the SRWMD agenda Tuesday about Water First North Florida (WFNF), the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee River Basin.
But you can speak in item “4. Public Comment” about most anything. Don’t be late: it’s very near the start of the meeting.
That’s 9 AM, Tuesday, June 9, 2026,
at SRWMD HQ, 9225 Co Rd 49, Live Oak, FL 32060.
You can watch remotely on SRWMD’s YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@SRWMD
Elsewhere on the agenda there are:
https://www.mysuwanneeriver.com/Archive.aspx?ADID=1753
Plus some details about surplus lands as well as work at various parks.
Last month twelve people spoke about WFNF, but the Minutes record them each only as Water First North Florida concerns. You can see them in SRWMD’s own video. They were: Continue reading
Only two state agencies commented on the Development of Regional Impact (DRI) for the Project Arrowhead datacenter near the Alapaha River in Irwin County, Georgia:
In the section of “Comments from Public Agencies” the other two letters are from the Georgia Water Coalition (GWC) and from WWALS, which you have already seen.
Fifteen citizens commented in the section labeled “Comments from the Public – Non-official.” All were opposed to the datacenter.
For much more about datacenters, including who you can contact, petitions, and upcoming meetings, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters
I thank Irwin County Assistant County Manager Bonnie Kelly, Ed.D. and County Clerk Patricia Battle for each returning a copy of this document within minutes after I sent in an open records request this morning.
This is presumably the same document you can see the Irwin County Commissioners perusing in Videos: Datacenter Special Exception approved at Special Called Meeting of Irwin County BOCC 2026-05-20.
The document is on the WWALS website and images of each page are below. Continue reading
In case you thought recent rains had solved the drought, think again.
This is the April 30, 3026 Hydrologic Conditions Report that was presented at the May Governing Board meeting of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).
![[Hydrologic Conditions Report --SRWMD 2026-04-30, Still in drought, Need much more rain]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-04-30--srwmd-hydrologic-conditions-report/fbmany.jpg)
Hydrologic Conditions Report –SRWMD 2026-04-30, Still in drought, Need much more rain
https://www.mysuwanneeriver.com/DocumentCenter/View/19656/04-April-26-Hydro-Reportk
SUWANNEE RIVER WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT
MEMORANDUMTO: Governing Board
FROM: Robbie McKinney, Hydrologic Program Manager, Office of Water Resources
THRU: Hugh Thomas, Executive Director
DATE: April 30, 2026
RE: April 2026 Hydrologic Conditions Report
RAINFALL
- Districtwide average rainfall for the month was 0.88”, which was about 74 percent lower than the 1932-2025 average of 3.38” (Table 1, Figure 1). The 12-month period ending April 30 reflected a Districtwide rainfall deficit of 20.22”, which was an increase to the 19.98” deficit seen at the end of March. District counties ranged from just over 0.5” to 1.4” of rainfall on average, with parts of Taylor, Suwannee, Columbia, Hamilton, Union, Gilchrist, and Dixie counties receiving more than 2.5 inches of rainfall (Figure 2).
- Overall, a 12-month rainfall deficit was present in all river basins, with the Aucilla and Coastal basins increasing in deficit by the end of April (Figure 3). A small area in the southern Waccasassa Basin showed a deficit of less than 8 inches. Portions with deficits greater than 29” were also observed in the Aucilla, Santa Fe, and Suwannee basins. Each river basin increased its 3-month rainfall deficit by the end of April (Figure 4). No surpluses were seen over the past 3 months, and each river basin had areas measuring anywhere from less than 6” to more than 9” of deficit. Sections with greater than 9” of rainfall deficit can be seen in all 5 of the basins.
SURFACE WATER
Continue reading
Update 2026-06-01: Review, Project Arrowhead, DRI 4689, Irwin County, GA –SGRC 2026-05-14.
The Irwin County Commissioners approved almost everything unanimously, including the Special Exception for a datacenter.
The only exception was 6. ACCEPT PHASE II OF THE COURTHOUSE ROOF BID PROJECT, which they tabled.
On the datacenter special exception, several Commissioners did express specific concerns. But they seemed to be relying largely on hearsay, such as by the Commissioners who had visited some datacenters, which “wasn’t really rushed,” yet “We were rushing to see everything we could see. And we didn’t get all the questions like that answered.” 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?
![[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)
![[Rezoning application for potential datacenter site, Coleman Road North to Withlacoochee River, Lowndes County 2025-06-30, 2025-07-08]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-06-30--coleman-road-lowndes-county-rezoning-datacenter-site/many.jpg)
![[Local Industrial Development Authority @ Irwin Co. BOCC 2026-06-01, 2026-06-03, Burn Ordinance, Solar Ordinance, County Administrator job posting]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-06-01--irwin-county-bocc-packet/igmany.jpg)
![[SRWMD Governing Board Meeting, 4. Public Comment, 9 AM, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, SRWMD HQ, 9225 Co Rd 49, Live Oak, FL]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-06-09--srwmd-board/fbmany.jpg)
![[Review, Project Arrowhead, DRI 4689, Irwin County, GA --SGRC 2026-05-14, Comments from Public Agencies, Comments from the Public]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-05-14--dri-review-irwin-county/fbmany.jpg)
![[Videos: Datacenter Special Exception Approved at Special Called Meeting of Irwin County BOCC 2026-05-20]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-05-20--irwin-county-special-called-meeting/fbmany.jpg)