Suwannee River District outlines Water First North Florida plan, warns of possible allocation cuts if rivers don't recover

Amy Brown, deputy executive director of water resources at the Suwannee River Water Management District, told the Union County Board of County Commissioners on Feb. 17 that the district has issued a voluntary water-shortage advisory after a roughly 14-inch rainfall deficit over the past 12 months and that a multi-district project could be required to restore flows to the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee river systems.

Brown described the Water First North Florida proposal as a three-phase program that would use highly treated reclaimed water, treatment wetlands and recharge infrastructure to return water to the Floridan aquifer. A detailed two-year pilot study at JEA’s Buckman facility is under way to evaluate advanced treatment and the effectiveness of constructed wetlands; the district said a siting study for treatment wetlands and recharge locations would begin once contracts are executed.

"This is a voluntary advisory, but basically, what we're doing is we're requesting users to be thinking about the potential that this drought might persist into the growing season," Brown said, urging reduced discretionary uses while the district monitors aquifer levels.

Brown and other presenters outlined an experimental component that tests ozone pretreatment in one wetland cell against a control cell. The pilot will measure nutrients, pharmaceuticals, PFAS and other parameters to determine whether ozone pre-treatment improves contaminant removal before a larger-scale wetland and recharge system is sited and built. The project’s proponents said the planned infrastructure could deliver more than 40 million gallons per day of reclaimed water to recharge locations when fully built.

Commissioners and residents pressed district staff on potential risks and local impacts. Brown said treatment wetlands can denitrify wastewater and that the pilot is explicitly measuring which treatment modes and configurations remove nitrates and other contaminants. She said the project team has conducted conceptual screening of parcels in the Suwannee and St. Johns districts but has not selected specific sites in Union County.

Residents asked whether property owners would be compensated if recharge or treatment facilities were sited on private land. Brown and district representatives said publicly held lands would be prioritized and that the district expects voluntary agreements with landowners for privately held parcels; they stated that Suwannee River District has not historically used eminent domain for such projects and that compensation and negotiation would be handled if private land were needed.

Brown cautioned that state statute sets a 20-year recovery requirement for affected springs and rivers and that, absent effective recharge projects, regulators could reduce permitted allocations. "We have to recover the Santa Fe and the Ichetucknee rivers in 20 years," she said, adding that modeling used in planning has identified scenarios that could require reductions in current permitted use on the order of 30% across affected users to meet recovery targets.

The district committed to additional outreach, posting study materials and FAQs online and to hosting a local town hall so residents can submit questions; staff said the siting study’s third phase (local recharge siting) is expected to start in September 2026 once contracts are executed. Brown emphasized the project is intended to work in conjunction with conservation measures rather than replace them.

Next steps: the district will make contract documents and study materials available as public records when executed, continue the Buckman pilot study, complete the siting study phases and return to local governments and the public with more detailed site-level information and outreach.