North Florida water project canceled after senator calls for new approach

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Millions of gallons of water may not be filtered into north central Florida from Jacksonville after all.

State Sen. Corey Simon wants stakeholders in the Water First North Florida Project to go back to the drawing board. Commissioners in both Columbia and Union counties say they are happy to hear the project is canceled in its current form.

The project would have filtered millions of gallons of reclaimed water through an aquifer system. The project would have returned more than 40 million gallons of reclaimed water a day to the Floridan Aquifer from Jacksonville.

Project concerns

Union County Commissioner Mac Johns said the Water First North Florida Project always seemed to be incomplete.

“I’m pleased. Really kind of astonished that it happened,” Johns said.

This includes not knowing exactly where the project would be going and what chemicals would not be cleaned out.

“You know, you say trust the science, well we put trust in science all the time and a lot of times it backfires on us, so I’m real pleased with this news,” Johns said.

In February, a spokesperson for the Suwannee River Water Management District said this project would allow them to not cut back the amount of water people are using. They say they are aware of the letter sent by Simon and did not have any additional comments, as Simon wants developers to come up with a better long-term solution.

“It’s great news for us. There was a lot of people opposed to it, and not really opposed to the whole project, the entirety, just the way the project was done,” Johns said.

State Rep. Chuck Brannan sent a statement that says, in part, this project was never a part of the legislative budget and now has no funding.

Johns said this makes Union County commissioners feel better because maybe some of their questions will now be answered.

“Give them time to really make sure that this is going to be for the better, and not cause harm,” Johns said.

Both Union and Columbia County leaders say they remain committed to protecting the future of their communities.

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