Central Florida Coordination Area

In 2005 the three water management districts with jurisdiction in Central Florida - South Florida, Southwest Florida and St. Johns River Water Management Districts - published regional water supply plans for their respective areas. All three Districts identified groundwater resource concerns in Central Florida within the 2025 planning horizon. The Plans also acknowledge that the groundwater resource concerns crossed District boundaries and that limitations on the traditional groundwater source were likely limited within the next 10 years following plan publication. Further, it was recognized that planning and regulatory efforts in the Central Florida needed improved communication to assure that permitting of the future groundwater use and the development of alternative water supply (AWS) solutions in the region were coordinated. In the fall of 2006 the three Districts developed an Action Plan which identified the coordination of regulatory, planning and research activities within the five county area of Central Florida. The area of improved District coordination was dubbed the Central Florida Coordination Area or CFCA. The figure below shows the area of improved coordination.

Immediate efforts of the CFCA MOU focused on improved District coordination focused on active water use permits allowing for timely commentary between agencies during the review process and the exchange of research information. In 2008 all three Districts completed interim revisions to their water use permitting regulations to limit the development of new fresh groundwater within the CFCA to the demonstrated demand of 2013. The 2013 date was selected as a reasonable estimate of regionally available groundwater based upon the known hydrologic and projected demand information and for the allowance of time necessary to implement AWS projects. Beyond the 2013 level of demand, AWS sources must be developed to meet future demands. The CFCA MOU also called for the co-development of modeling tools to improve the understanding of the groundwater conditions and for the coordinated development of alternative water supplies for the region. Interim rulemaking by the Districts is set to sunset December 31, 2012.

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