This is a placeholder for a forthcoming article with evidence in endnotes.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
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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
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
Asked directly about WFNF, what’s happening with the $125 million and have you cancelled the consultant contracts, SJRWMD had no response.
Remember that whenever somebody tries to tell you WFNF is cancelled. It’s just laying low.
That’s Water First North Florida, the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin to seep down from wetlands into the Floridan Aquifer and come back up in springs, rivers, and drinking water wells, at the June 9, 2026, meeting in Palatka of the Governing Board of the St. Johns River Water Management District.
What they did do, after their Hydrologic Conditions Report showed how dire the drought is, they approved an increase in the amount of groundwater GRU can withdraw for Gainesville.
And they praised GRU’s wastewater reclamation, i.e., Sweetwater, as a model. They didn’t say, but that’s one of the precedents cited in https://waterfirstnorthfl.com: “Similar projects like the Sweetwater Wetlands Project in Alachua County and the Black Creek Water Resource Development Project in Clay County have successfully improved water quality, restored wetland habitats, and provided community benefits – proving this approach works for North Florida.”
Nevermind that, as Suwannee County BOCC pointed out, “You assert that this method has been “proven” at the Sweetwater Wetlands Project and Black Creek Water Resource Development. That is simply not true as both of those projects use wetlands to cleanse run off — not chemically “treated” water. To be blunt, those projects are not receiving sewer water like you are planning to use for the Water First North Florida Project. Even if they were similar projects, the difference in scale compared to Water First North Florida negates any reasonable comparison.”
For more about WFNF, see:
Here’s another question. Continue reading
Update 2026-06-18: Drought dire; GRU water withdrawal increase approved; no response about WFNF @ SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09.
You can speak about WFNF, taxes, etc. at the SJRWMD Governing Board Meeting,
10 AM, Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Board Room, SJRWMD District Headquarters, 4049 Reid Street, Palatka, FL 32177
Don’t be late: 5. Public Comment is very early on the agenda.
So far, the Suwannee River Water Management Districdt (SRWMD) has no comment on the alleged cancellation of WFNF. We’ve heard nothing at all from the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), which has dedicated $125 million to WFNF. Maybe you’d like to ask them what they are doing with WFNF.
How much of SJRWMD’s own tax revenue comes from property tax, and how much of that will be affected if the voters in November approve the Florida Homestead Property Tax Exemption?
Public Comment is right after this item:
- Consideration: Approve Consumptive Use Permit 11339-8, known as Murphree WTP – GRU. This application is a renewal of an existing public supply permit with an increase in the Upper Floridan aquifer groundwater allocation from 30.0 million gallons per day (mgd) to 34.592 mgd, through the year 2056.
That’s a 15% increase from 2056 for Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU). From the same Upper Floridan Aquifer everybody drinks from in the Suwannee Basin. With direct effects on the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Associated Priority Springs minimum flows and levels, as spelled out later in the board packet.
There is no mention of PFAS forever chemicals or pharmaceuticals being removed from the “reclaimed” wastewater that ends up in the aquifer. One of the reclaimed wastewater routes goes through Sweetwater Wetlands Park, which WFNF claims as a precedent.
Maybe you’d like to talk about that.
On packet page 9: 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
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
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?
Hahira, Georgia, May 18, 2026 — Two experts from Georgia and Florida on current water topics will speak at WWALS River Revue, the sit-down fundraising dinner for WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc., plus the music of a headliner and the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, and a silent auction.
https://wwals.net/pictures/songwriting2026
![[Speakers, WWALS River Revue, September 12, 2026, Amy Sharma on Datacenters, Rick Davis on WFNF]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-05-18--pr-speakers-wwals-river-revue/many.jpg)
Speakers, WWALS River Revue, September 12, 2026, Amy Sharma on Datacenters, Rick Davis on WFNF
Update 2026-05-19: They passed it: https://www.facebook.com/SpringtownAuto/posts/pfbid02d4vZXw719avgP7DSRd4L7pzP3dKCwYLz158gjBKNCHh8SLQKPMiv1ByQc25wHmg9l
Assuming the Commissioners pass this at their 6 PM Monday meeting, Union County will become the seventh county (plus the Town of Branford) to pass a letter or resolution against Water First North Florida (WFNF), the plan to pipe treated wastewater from Jacksonville into the Suwannee Basin.
For which counties, the Task Force and NCFRPC resolutions that represent all 12 counties in the Suwannee District, and who you can contact, see:
![[Packet: WFNF opposition to SRWMD @ Union County BOCC, 2026-05-18]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-05-18--union-county-wfnf/fbmany.jpg)
Packet: WFNF opposition to SRWMD @ Union County BOCC, 2026-05-18
See Agenda, Regular Meeting, May 18, 2026, 6:00 P.M.
https://union-clerk.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/05/14144906/5.18.26-Regular-Meeting-Packet-Web.pdf
Union County Board of County Commissioners
15 Northeast 1st Street, Lake Butler, FL 32054 * Phone: 386-496-4241 * Fax: 386-496-4240Ms. Virginia Johns, Chair
Suwannee River Water Management District
9225 CR 49 Live Oak, Florida 32060
Re: Opposition to the Water First North Florida Project
Dear Ms. Johns:
Union County joins with its fellow members of the Middle and Lower Suwannee River and Withlacoochie River Task Force, as well as the numerous counties, municipalities, and citizen groups who who have all expressed concerns about, and opposition to, the proposed Water First North Florida Project. In the apparent rush to implement this project, local governments have gone uninformed and local voices in opposition have been largely ignored until just recently. We are grateful for legislative intervention that has, for the time being, stayed the execution of this project, but we remain alert to the potential for it to re-commence in the future and therefore wish to express our opposition.
It has long been understood by the scientific community that 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)
![[Drought dire, yet approved GRU water withdrawal increase, No response about WFNF @ SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-06-09--sjrwmd-board-pictures/many.jpg)
![[Speak about WFNF, Taxes, etc., at SJRWMD Board 2026-06-09, Or GRU 15% increase groundwater withdrawal affecting Suwannee Basin]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2026-06-09--sjrwmd-board/fbmany.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)