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County staff brief board on minimum flows update and large regional 'Water First North Florida' project
Summary
Alachua County environmental staff briefed commissioners on the proposed minimum flows and levels (MFLs) regulatory package and the Water First North Florida implementation plan, a 40 MGD treated‑wastewater aquifer recharge project estimated at $1.1 billion and targeted for completion by 2040; staff urged continued lobbying to tighten irrigation‑well rules in the DEP draft.
Stacy Greco, environmental protection staff, updated the Board on the North Florida Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs) regulatory package and the associated implementation plan. Greco said the MFLs set regulatory flow and level thresholds intended to prevent harm to springs, rivers and wetlands from water withdrawals; adoption follows a multi‑year process dating to the county’s 2018 vulnerability assessment.
Greco outlined two linked elements: the DEP regulatory rule‑making component now before the legislature, and the implementation plan adopted earlier by the water‑management districts. The implementation plan lists projects and conservation measures intended to restore and maintain flows. Key investments highlighted included agricultural water‑conservation cost‑share programs (soil moisture sensors, irrigation upgrades) and two major infrastructure projects: the Black Creek Water Resource Development Project (10 MGD; currently funded at roughly $119 million) and the Water First North Florida program, an estimated $1.1 billion project to pipe and treat up to 40 MGD of treated wastewater for recharge into the Santa Fe Basin.
Greco said the Water First project remains in planning and does not yet include land‑acquisition costs; target completion is 2040. She also said a 2024 draft of DEP’s rules had proposed prohibiting new landscape irrigation wells, which county staff supported, but that prohibition was not included in the current 2025 draft. Staff are lobbying to restore tighter restrictions on unmetered irrigation wells and will coordinate with partners, lobbyists and utilities on suggested language. Greco also noted reuse of large regional projects as an offset mechanism for MFL compliance obligations.
Commissioners asked for a presentation from water‑management district staff on Water First North Florida and discussed incentives for Florida Water Star building standards and whether rebate or certification programs could be revived to increase builder uptake. Greco said Alachua County’s irrigation code is already as protective as the proposed Florida Water Star Silver Plus standard in many respects.
