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Drought impacts continue across the region (St. Johns River Water Management District)<\/p>\nNORTHEAST FLORIDA \u2013 Northeast Florida has been dealing with a water shortage since last fall, and despite recent September rain, officials say the region still has a long way to go before its groundwater supply recovers.<\/p>\n
Duval and St. Johns counties are both more than 15 inches below their 12-month average rainfall totals \u2014 a deficit that is taking a toll on the region\u2019s water supply, including the Floridan Aquifer, which stretches from Georgia and South Carolina through Central and West Florida.<\/p>\n
The shortage is already showing visible effects. Clay Coarsey, Director of Water Supply and Assessment for the St. Johns River Water Management District, said some springs are disappearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cA number of springs to the west of Duval County over in Alachua County have started drying up due to the low rainfall conditions,\u201d Coarsey said.<\/p>\n
Coarsey tracks water shortages for the district. He said the rain North Florida received in September, while helpful, has not been enough to offset nearly a year\u2019s worth of below-average rainfall.<\/p>\n
Drought impacts continue across the region (St. Johns River Water Management District)<\/p>\n
\u201cThat one month hasn\u2019t made up for the 11 months prior deficit in rainfall,\u201d Coarsey said. \u201cIt\u2019s been about a year since we started falling below the normal rainfall totals.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked how much more rain is needed to bring aquifer levels back to normal, Coarsey did not sugarcoat the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cA little over 30 inches or so over the next 3 months would be needed above and beyond your everyday rainfall,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Coarsey said the fall season does offer some hope. With fewer daylight hours, less evaporation, and reduced plant water demand, rainfall during this time of year is more effective at penetrating the ground and replenishing the aquifer.<\/p>\n
Residents in Duval and St. Johns counties are currently under Phase 3 water restrictions, which limit outdoor watering to once a day. Officials are urging residents to take additional steps to conserve water:<\/p>\n
Water late at night or in the early morning<\/p>\n
Check your irrigation system regularly<\/p>\n
Replace or repair broken sprinkler heads<\/p>\n
Install rain sensors on your irrigation system<\/p>\n
Residents in Duval and St. Johns counties should irrigate no more than one day per week<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORTHEAST FLORIDA \u2013 Northeast Florida has been dealing with a water shortage since last fall, and despite recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,116,221],"class_list":["post-401063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-jacksonville","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}