North Florida Regional Water Supply Partnership

North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan

2023 North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan

The NFRWSP Planning Region includes 14 counties in the SJRWMD and the SRWMD: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, and Union. Since 2021, the Districts have been working with stakeholders to update to the 2015–2035 North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (NFRWSP), which was approved at a joint meeting of the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) and Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) governing boards in January 2017. This work is being conducted to meet the requirements of Section 373.709 of the Florida Statutes, which requires the Districts to reevaluate their determinations concerning the need for a water supply plan at least every five years. The 2023 NFRWSP assesses current and projected water needs in the NFRWSP area, the potential impacts of groundwater withdrawals on natural systems, and identifies sufficient project options to sustain water resources and related natural systems through the planning horizon (2045). The development of the 2023 NFRWSP (2020–2045) is being conducted in an open process with local governments and other stakeholders.

Work Completed

• November 16 and 17, 2021 - two Technical Methods public workshops describing the approach to developing the population and water demand projections were held at the SJRWMD and SRWMD, respectively.
  • The technical methods were utilized to develop the 2020–2045 population and water demand projections, water reuse estimates and projections, and water conservation scenarios. Comments on the technical methods and datasets were received through December 17, 2021. The Districts reviewed all submitted comments and incorporated updates to the methods and datasets, as necessary. Additional comments on the projections and spatially distributed data were received through July 8, 2022, and were incorporated into the documents where appropriate.
• November 15 and 16, 2022 – two Constraint Assessment public workshops describing the water resource constraint methodologies and results were held at the SRWMD and SJRWMD, respectively.
  • Comments on the constraint assessment methodologies and results were received through January 31, 2023 and incorporated into the documents where appropriate.
• February through April 2023 – The Districts worked collaboratively with the region’s utilities, water users, and local stakeholders to identify project options to help meet our water supply needs, now and in the future. A list of potential water supply, water resource development, and water conservation project options was developed, which will be included in the upcoming 2023 North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan.
• September 20 and 21, 2023 – two Draft Plan workshops describing the status, overall conceptual intent, and impacts of the 2023 NFRWSP on existing and future reasonable-beneficial uses and related natural systems were held at the SRWMD and SJRWMD, respectively.
  • Comments on the 2023 NFRWSP were received through October 6, 2023, and incorporated into the documents where appropriate.

Current Activities

There is active work underway in the planning area to establish new MFLs and update existing MFLs. This work is being done in parallel with the planning process. Below is a summary of these activities and points of contact to engage with these efforts.

• Upper and Middle Suwannee MFLs
  • mfl@srwmd.com
• Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee River and priority springs
  • OWP_rulemaking@floridadep.gov

The 2023 NFRWSP and its accompanying appendices will be presented to the Governing Board meetings of both the SJRWMD and the SRWMD on December 12, 2023, along with a recommendation for approval.

Final Draft 2023 North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan

The final draft 2023 NFRWSP was posted on November 27, 2023. The Plan assesses current and projected water demand in the NFRWSP area through 2045.

• 2023 North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan and associated appendices FINAL DRAFT
• 2023 North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan FINAL DRAFT (without appendices)
• Appendix A Public Comment and Response FINAL DRAFT
• Appendix B Population and Water Demand Projections FINAL DRAFT
• Geodatabase
• Appendix C Simulated Change in Groundwater Levels within the NFSEG Model FINAL DRAFT
• Appendix D Water Quality Assessment FINAL DRAFT
• Appendix E Adopted MFLs DRAFT
• Appendix F MFLs Assessment FINAL DRAFT
• Appendix G Waterbodies without Adopted MFLs Assessment FINAL DRAFT
• Appendix H Wetland Assessment FINAL DRAFT
• Appendix I Resiliency Assessment FINAL DRAFT
• Appendix J Land Reclamation Assessment FINAL DRAFT
• Appendix K Project Options FINAL DRAFT
• Appendix L Santa Fe Recovery Strategy
• Appendix M Lakes Brooklyn and Geneva Recovery Strategy

Stakeholder Participation

Interested stakeholders are encouraged to sign up to be notified when data or documents are posted or when meetings for the 2023 NFRWSP are scheduled to occur. To be added to the mailing list, please send your first and last names, group affiliation (if any), and email address to partnership@sjrwmd.com.

Previous Water Supply Plan

The 2015–2035 North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan (NFRWSP) was the first-ever regional water supply plan for the Partnership, local governments, public supply utilities, environmental advocates, and other stakeholders. These groups all shared the common goals of preserving and extending our future water supply.

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