North Florida Regional Water Supply Partnership

An overview of the North Florida Regional Water Supply Partnership

Protection of natural resources and cost-effective, sustainable water supplies in the St. Johns River and Suwannee River water management districts through collaborative planning, scientific-tool development and other partnership efforts

Ensuring sustainable water supplies and protecting North Florida’s waterways and natural systems is a collaborative effort among the water management districts, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), local elected officials and area stakeholders.

Water managers have enhanced communications and improved coordination of programs to protect the shared resources of the Floridan aquifer system. Specifically, the Water Management Districts (Districts) are working closely together on regulatory programs in North Florida, sharing data and technology, developing joint water resource protection strategies, and focusing more attention on communication with stakeholders across district boundaries.

In May 2024, the St. Johns River and Suwannee River Water Management Districts and DEP amended the agreement that formalizes the coordination of water resource management in North Florida.

In January 2017 at a joint meeting of the St. Johns River and Suwannee River Water Management Districts’ Governing Boards, the Districts approved the 2017 Joint North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan, and in 2019 the Districts completed work on the latest version of the North Florida Southeast Georgia Groundwater Model.

In 2020, the Districts initiated work for the next plan update and in December 2023, the two Districts approved the 2023 NFRWSP. Information can be found at North Florida Regional Water Supply Plan.

Working together and exchanging scientific data and factual information has been critical in making this a productive and successful effort.

Contacts

• St. Johns District: Lori Burklew at
  partnership@sjrwmd.com or (407) 659−4813
• Suwannee District: Emily Ducker at
  partnership@sjrwmd.com or (386) 362−1001