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JEA outlines regional 'Water First North Florida' plan to move 40 million gallons daily for aquifer recharge
Summary
At a Feb. 3 Transportation, Energy and Utilities Committee meeting, JEA described Water First North Florida — a regional reclaimed‑water recharge plan intended to meet state mandates and restore spring flows. The concept is in feasibility, estimated at roughly $1 billion with pledged partners but will take a decade or more to build.
Rob Zamataro, chief operating officer for water at JEA, told the Jacksonville Transportation, Energy and Utilities Committee on Feb. 3 that a regional program called Water First North Florida aims to treat reclaimed wastewater, filter it through constructed wetlands and route it to recharge locations to restore aquifer levels and spring and river flows.
"This project will use reclaimed water that will be highly treated at a water reclamation facility before being filtered in a wetland to further clean the water," Zamataro said. He described the idea as a region‑wide response to legislative drivers including Senate Bill 64 and emerging minimum flows and levels rules that threaten access to groundwater in North Florida.
The project concept would repurpose roughly 40 million gallons per day (MGD) that now discharges to tide and move it west to areas where the confining clay layer thins and surface recharge can meaningfully augment the drinking‑water aquifer. Zamataro said…
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