Regional Water Supply Planning
Rock Springs in Orange County is one place where groundwater emanates from the aquifer system.
The Upper Floridan aquifer has historically supplied the vast majority of water used in central Florida. The St. Johns River Water Management District, South Florida Water Management District, and Southwest Florida Water Management District are studying whether the Floridan aquifer system is reaching its sustainable limits of use and exploring the need to develop supplemental sources of water.
The three water management districts, along with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), regional public water supply utilities, and other stakeholders are working to develop a unified water supply plan for central Florida as part of the Central Florida Water Initiative (CFWI). The CFWI Planning Area includes all of Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Polk counties and southern Lake County.
The CFWI is working to provide a uniform approach for water management in an area where the boundaries of three districts come together and where water withdrawals in one district may impact water resources and water users throughout the area.
Plan development
The goal of the regional water supply plan is to ensure the protection of water resources and related natural systems and identify sustainable water supplies for all water uses in the coordination area through 2045.
Several technical work groups have collaboratively built a strong scientific foundation of knowledge upon which the regional water supply plan will be developed. The technical analysis includes:
Lake Eola Park is a scenic vista in Orlando’s skyline.
- Ensuring the most appropriate science is applied to modeling and data analysis
- Performing environmental assessments of wetlands and surface waters
- Developing options for consistent processes to set and implement minimum flows and minimum water levels and water reservations criteria for priority water bodies
- Ensuring available hydrologic, environmental and other pertinent data is identified, inventoried and accessible
Work group members engaged in the regional water supply plan development are focusing their efforts on:
- Developing population and water demand projections
- Ensuring consistent usage of resource evaluation criteria
- Developing a water conservation component for the regional water supply plan
- Evaluating water sources
- Identifying water supply development and water resource development project options
Draft Regional Water Supply Plan
The work of the CFWI is summarized in a series of Regional Water Supply Plan (RWSP) documents. Currently, the draft 2025 CFWI RWSP is posted below for public review and comment. The RWSP process is a public process and public review and comment of the draft 2025 CFWI RWSP is encouraged to gather feedback, improve transparency, and help identify challenges and possible solutions. The draft documents may be accessed below:
Draft 2025 CFWI Regional Water Supply Plan
Draft 2025 CFWI Regional Water Supply Plan Appendices
All comments received during the open comment period will be reviewed and considered by district staff. The public comment period on the draft 2025 CFWI RWSP was open from March 14, 2025 through May 16, 2025 and is now closed.
The 2015 and 2020 CFWI RWSP documents may be found here: CFWI File Archive.