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Aquifer levels remain at a ‘deficit,’ despite recent rains in Central Florida

WaterAtlas.org — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Drought conditions persist in Central Florida, despite recent summer rains.

Not enough rain has fallen to compensate for the existing “deficit” in the underground aquifer system that provides most of the state’s drinking water, according to the St. Johns River Water Management District. An “extreme” water shortage declared by the district in May remains effective, requiring all water consumers — residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural — to take steps to conserve the critical natural resource.

Diving into the data

In Marion County specifically, total annual rainfall is nearly two feet short of where it should be by this time of year.

“When you're that short on rainfall, it takes more than just a few afternoon thunderstorms … to be able to start to refill the aquifer,” said Clay Coarsey, the district’s director of water supply planning and assessment.

For July, total rainfall across the district fell about 1.5 inches short of the monthly average. District-wide, total annual rainfall is sitting more than nine inches below average levels, based on precipitation data from August 2025 through last month.

In Central Florida’s coastal areas, rainfall totals are looking a bit better. Within the district’s 18-county coverage area, only Brevard and Volusia saw monthly rain totals improve in July.

But more precipitation is necessary inland, Coarsey said, where sandy soils allow rain to seep more easily through the ground and into the aquifer system lying thousands of feet below the Earth. “We need that rainfall inland, because that's really the area where we're getting our aquifer recharge.”

Warm seasonal temperatures are also fueling drought conditions. “We have a lot of plants that are growing, a lot of turf that's growing. And a lot of that rainfall is ending up as either evaporation or transpiration that the plants are using,” Coarsey said.

Transpiration is the process of plants taking up water from the soil, then releasing water vapor into the air through their leaves. Separately, about 90% of moisture in the atmosphere comes from water evaporating from ocean, lakes and rivers, according to the United States Geological Survey.

As climate change drives up global temperatures, more water is evaporating into the atmosphere, according to climate scientists — leaving soils and surface water bodies more dry.

How can any one person help?

By conserving water, all Central Floridians can play an important role in helping ease drought conditions, Coarsey said.

Residents of areas covered by the ongoing extreme water shortage should only be watering their lawns one day a week, between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. More details on the district’s watering restrictions are available here.

Another key step is to make sure your irrigation system’s required rain sensor is working. “With the rain that's been coming through, you'll be wasting money and our water resources if you're irrigating shortly after we have a rain event,” Coarsey said.

Sometimes, public irrigation systems using reclaimed water — treated, recycled stormwater and wastewater — will still run during or shortly after it rains. That’s because the utilities using that reclaimed water only have so much storage capacity for it.

“We're trying to be as efficient as we can with all water,” Coarsey said. “But sometimes, just due to operational constraints, we're not as quite as efficient with reclaimed (water) as we'd like to be.”

Where, exactly, is an extreme water shortage in effect?

In Central Florida, all of Flagler, Lake, Marion, Polk and Sumter counties are in an extreme water shortage, as declared by St. Johns and the Southwest Water Management District. Other parts of the region covered by St. Johns may be required to follow other, locally-set water conservation rules.

Beyond the Central Florida region, areas in an extreme water shortage also include:

In the St. Johns district: Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties, plus parts of Alachua County.
In the Southwest Florida district: All of Citrus, DeSoto, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota counties; portions of Charlotte and Highlands counties; and Gasparilla Island in Charlotte County.

Invisible hitchhikers: how ‘forever chemicals’ travel in water

WaterAtlas.org — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Grab a cup and scoop up water from Lake Michigan or one of the rivers that feed it. Then hold the water sample up and you’ll see tiny bits of floating particles, including bits of clay, algae and other organic matter that make the water appear cloudy.

These microscopic particles may hold important clues to understanding how a large family of human-made chemicals – called PFAS, or “forever chemicals” – move through one of the region’s most valuable natural resources, said Yin Wang, associate professor, civil & environmental engineering.

The research team of Wang; Shangping Xu, associate professor, geosciences; and Patrick Gorski, a scientist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; will look at the question in a new study funded with a $259,500 grant from Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Scientists have spent years studying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which persist in the environment and are linked to adverse human health effects. They know the compounds can cling to soil, Wang said, but what isn’t known is whether PFAS chemicals also hitchhike on the countless suspended particles in lakes and rivers.

Attached vs. dissolved

“If PFAS are attached to these particles, they may behave very differently than if they are simply dissolved in the water,” Wang said. Understanding those differences could help researchers identify how PFAS enter the lake and where they are most likely to accumulate.

With water samples collected from the lake and several of its largest tributaries, Wang and Xu will separate the suspended particles and the water and measure the amount of PFAS in each. The results should reveal how much of the contamination is traveling with particles and how much remains dissolved.

The team believes that many PFAS compounds do attach to suspended particles, but not all in the same way, Xu said. The researchers also hypothesize that the chemical structure of different PFAS compounds influences if or how tightly they stick to floating solids.

What rivers can reveal

Comparing samples from Lake Michigan with those taken in tributaries may offer additional insights. Rivers often carry more suspended particles than the open lake, where the much larger volume of water dilutes them. Wind, waves and weather can influence where the particles go, and fish and other aquatic organisms may encounter particle-bound PFAS differently than the dissolved chemicals.

Looking at both data sets, “may allow us to determine how tributary-derived PFAS are redistributed and modified within the lake,” said Xu, whose research focuses on emerging contaminants in the environment, and the development of novel removal technologies.

Today’s environmental models often overlook the distinctions because the necessary data doesn’t exist, Wang added. He hopes this research will fill the gap, providing new information that could improve cleanup strategies.

Wang and Xu previously worked together on a Sea Grant project that investigated how PFAS compounds accumulate and move in groundwater. The pair also hold a patent on a next-generation filtration material specifically designed to target low concentrations of PFAS.

Drought Extremes are Intensifying More Rapidly Than in the Past

WaterAtlas.org — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Droughts are becoming an increasing global concern as their impacts intensify. Understanding how climate change affects drought frequency and severity is essential for projecting future drought risk. In this context, the question raised by Helpap et al. [2026]—”are modern droughts unprecedented?”—has a high scientific relevance. Here, 20 ensemble members from a 600-year climate simulation and reanalysis data from the period 1950-2024 are analyzed to place recent droughts in a multi-century context. It is concluded that drought extremes are intensifying more rapidly beyond the range experienced in the past than moderate droughts. Therefore, an increasing likelihood of droughts reaching unprecedented magnitudes is expected in the near future, thus highlighting the urgency for adaptation measures in water resources and environmental management.

Citation: Helpap, P., Brönnimann, S., Hand, R., Franke, J., Raible, C. C., & Stocker, B. D. (2026). Are modern droughts unprecedented? AGU Advances, 7, e2026AV002536. https://doi.org/10.1029/2026AV002536

FEMA Announces $600M for Flood Mitigation Projects

WaterAtlas.org — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

FEMA has announced $600 million in fiscal year (FY) 2026 funding through its Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Swift Current program. The program provides accelerated post-disaster funding for projects that reduce repetitive flood damage to National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)-insured properties following qualifying flood disasters or major disaster declarations between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2027. Up to $40 million per disaster is available.

Key objectives include:

Increase community flood resilience and reduce future flood losses
Accelerate mitigation funding so projects can be implemented shortly after flood events rather than waiting for traditional annual grant cycles
Reduce future claims and financial exposure to the NFIP

States, territories, and Tribes apply on behalf of local communities. Application deadlines are established after a disaster declaration, typically 60-180 days after the disaster declaration. Download the Funding Bulletin to learn more.

Prescribed fire at Lake Apopka North Shore in Lake County

WaterAtlas.org — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The St. Johns River Water Management District is conducting a 200-acre prescribed fire today at the District’s Lake Apopka North Shore in Lake County, situated in the Middle St. Johns River Basin. Its purpose is to reduce hazardous fuel loads and maintain fire dependent natural communities.

The prescribed fire is planned for the western portion of the property, to the east of Ranch Road.

Prescribed fire is the use of carefully planned fire purposefully set under stringent conditions to manage the fire’s effects. Before conducting a burn, the District ensures that wind and other weather conditions are correct for managing the fire and minimizing the impacts of smoke to residents and traffic.

Periodic prescribed fires on District lands enhance the land’s environmental quality and protect its neighbors from destructive wildfires, but not without the possibility of temporary nuisances, such as smoke and ash.

Prescribed fires help prevent wildfires by burning off fuels that naturally build up over time, while also helping to manage the growth of woody shrubs.

In fire-dependent ecosystems, fire is nearly as important as rainfall and sunshine. The benefits of prescribed fire include restoring and maintaining natural communities, reducing chances of destructive wildfires, perpetuating fire-adapted plants and animals, cycling nutrients, managing tree diseases and opening scenic vistas.

Follow the District on social media to know when prescribed burns are taking place in your area. To learn more about the District’s prescribed burn program, visit the District online at www.sjrwmd.com/lands/management/prescribedfire or follow the conversation at #LoveYourLands #RxBurn #goodfire #sjrwmd.

B-roll footage of previous prescribed burns is available in the District’s Media Library.

St Johns Water Management District’s Water Conservation Rebate Program now accepting applications

WaterAtlas.org — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Across the District’s 18 counties, water connects neighborhoods, businesses and natural systems. Conserving this important resource is a priority.

When the St. Johns River Water Management District (District) launched its Water Conservation Rebate Program in October 2024, the goal was simple: make it easier for communities to conserve water and protect local resources; together.

By offering financial support for practical, proven conservation upgrades, the program empowers local governments, small utilities, homeowner associations (HOA), property owner associations and multi-family properties, to take meaningful action without shouldering the full cost alone.

The District provides rebates covering up to 50% of eligible project costs, including labor and installation, with applicants eligible to receive up to $10,000 per year. The program is supported by $50,000 per year in total funding, and projects are approved on a first-come, first-served basis, reinforcing the shared commitment to act now to maximize available funding.

In addition to outdoor irrigation, the program also includes indoor fixture retrofits for private and public multi-family properties, as well as single-family homes through locally administered programs. From upgrading older toilets, sinks and showerheads to high-efficiency models, to HOAs improving neighborhood irrigation systems, cities increasing efficiency at public housing properties and builders committing to high-efficiency standards in new construction, each project helps save water, reduce utility costs and contribute to a stronger, more water-wise community.

“The strength of this program is partnership,” said Kraig McLane, one of the District’s water conservation coordinators. “When we work alongside our local governments, utilities and community associations, we’re able to make conservation improvements that benefit residents directly. These upgrades not only reduce water use, but they also help lower costs and protect our water resources for the long term.”

The rebate program supports a wide range of projects designed to make conservation achievable and impactful:

Florida Water Star^SM certification for new residential construction
S. Environmental Protection Agency WaterSense®-labeled smart irrigation controllers
Irrigation conversions to high-efficiency rotary nozzles or micro-irrigation
Irrigation evaluations and timer modifications
Landscape soil amendments for new residential construction
Indoor plumbing fixture retrofits
H2OSAV subscription services

The application process is straightforward. After reviewing the Water Conservation Cost-Share Rebate Handbook, applicants complete a qualification step, enter into a cost-share agreement once approved and submit documentation for reimbursement after project completion. Clear steps and defined fiscal year timelines help ensure transparency and accountability for public funds.

By investing alongside its partners, the District is helping turn everyday conservation efforts into lasting impact — lowering costs, improving efficiency and protecting vital water resources across the region.

For questions or to discuss future rebate ideas, interested partners may attend an information session Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pre-register by Aug. 17 here:
2026-2027 Water Conservation Rebate Program Information Session

For those unable to attend, contact Kraig McLane at kmclane@sjrwmd.com or Gretchen Smith at gcsmith@sjrwmd.com.

St Johns River Water Management District expands scientific monitoring of Florida springs

WaterAtlas.org — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The St. Johns River Water Management District is expanding mapping and monitoring efforts at some of the region’s most iconic springs, collecting detailed scientific information to help protect these treasured waters, unique habitats and popular destinations where millions of people swim, paddle, snorkel and experience Florida’s natural beauty each year.

The Governing Board approved a contract with Trutta Environmental Solutions LLC to map and monitor springs and their spring runs at eight springs across the District, including Alexander, Blue, Juniper, Rock, Salt, Silver, Silver Glen and Wekiwa springs.

Using a specialized survey boat equipped with above-and-below water cameras, high-resolution global positioning system (GPS), sonar and water quality monitoring instrumentation, scientists will collect detailed information about spring and spring run conditions. The system records underwater channel bottom depths and substrate hardness, water quality, aquatic vegetation and other environmental characteristics, establishing a valuable baseline for future monitoring and helping scientists better evaluate long-term trends, habitat conditions and water quality. These insights will help guide future management decisions to protect these iconic Florida springs for wildlife and people who depend on them.

“Florida’s springs are among our state’s most treasured natural resources,” said St. Johns River Water Management District Executive Director Mike Register. “By collecting consistent, high-quality scientific data, we can better understand these systems, identify changes as they occur and make informed decisions to help protect them for future generations.”

There are 148 springs across the District’s 18-county region. The District has partnered with local governments and utilities to fund 180 springs projects, investing over $71 million to help protect these important natural resources. Collectively, these projects conserve approximately 60 million gallons of water per day (mgd), reduce nitrogen by more than 434,652 pounds per year and reduce phosphorus by more than 152,654 pounds per year.

To find additional information about the springs of the District, please visit www.sjrwmd.com/waterways/springs.