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JEA Consolidated Consumptive Use Permit

Posted on 5/10/2011

The St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board on May 10, 2011, approved a 20-year consumptive use permit (CUP) for JEA, a Jacksonville-based electric, water and wastewater utility. The permit consolidates 27 JEA water-use permits, which have a combined allocation of 155 million gallons of water per day (mgd), into one permit. The water will be used for public supply.

The consolidated permit apportions to JEA a maximum base allocation of 142 mgd of groundwater, corresponding to JEA’s demonstrated water demand in 2021.

If JEA meets several key conditions, the allocation could be increased to 155 mgd in 2031, and if JEA achieves reuse greater than the permit’s conditions by providing more reclaimed water to other permitted groundwater users, the allocation could increase up to 162.5 mgd as these other groundwater uses are reduced or eliminated.

Key permit conditions include:

• Actively participating in the development and implementation of an approved minimum flows and levels (MFL) prevention and recovery strategy for Cowpen Lake and lakes Geneva and Brooklyn in Keystone Heights.
• Providing reclaimed water for reuse within JEA’s service area in the following amounts:
  • 31.55 mgd by the end of 2020
  • 37.36 mgd by the end of 2025
  • 43.76 mgd by the end of 2030
    (JEA reused 11.05 mgd of its wastewater flow in 2010.)
• Submitting an alternative water supply facilities master plan by Feb. 28, 2015, to provide for an additional 20 mgd from sources other than groundwater, and facilities to supplement groundwater and reclaimed water use when needed.

JEA is required to construct several upper and lower Floridan aquifer monitoring wells in the region, conduct quarterly wetland monitoring at nine sites, quarterly groundwater quality monitoring at 125 well sites, quarterly groundwater quality monitoring for selected chemical components at 54 well sites, and monthly water level monitoring at 29 sites.

Background

JEA is the largest water supply utility within District boundaries. The utility will serve a population of an estimated 1 million people in 2031.

In September 2005, the District issued a CUP that consolidated 10 JEA wellfield permits into one permit. In September 2007, JEA submitted a permit application to the District to renew and modify its existing permit, which would consolidate the 17 remaining JEA CUPs into the one permit. JEA requested a permit allocation of 187.78 mgd of water in 2030.

In response to a District letter seeking additional information, JEA submitted a revised requested allocation in November 2010 for 165 mgd.