Issue papers
- Cooperative Funding
- Comprehensive Watershed Management
- Exotic Species Management
- Flood Protection
- Funding Water Resources Protection
- Minimum Flows and Levels
- Mitigation
- Partnership Agreement
- Permitting
- Protecting Lands and Providing Public Uses
- Responsibilities
- Sinkholes
- Springs — A Unique Resource
- A Sustainable Water Supply
Started in 1988, this program offers a 50/50 cost share with local governments for water management projects that address one of the District’s four areas of responsibility: water quality, water supply, flood protection and natural systems.
View the Cooperative Funding Initiative page
For example, a recent project included the design and construction of approximately 25,000 linear feet of reclaimed water transmission mains throughout the city of Dunedin. As a result, approximately 1.7 million gallons-per-day (mgd) of potable water was offset by providing reclaimed water to Dunedin residents for irrigation. The project also decreased the amount of direct reclaimed water discharge to St. Joseph Sound. A project in St. Petersburg provided education and financial incentives to water customers for the replacement of high-volume, traditional toilets with low-volume equivalents. The project resulted in the distribution of 6,883 toilets, the repair of 54 leaks, and an overall estimated program water savings of more than 260,000 gallons per day.
Funding for the CFI program is provided by the District’s Basin Boards. The District’s eight basins are delineated along watershed boundaries. Seven of these basins are overseen by Basin Boards, whose members make decisions about water resources within the basin. Basin Board members are volunteers appointed by the Governor. They serve three-year terms. The ninth basin, the Green Swamp Basin, is overseen by the District’s Governing Board because of its importance to the hydrology of the entire region.
The CFI program has encouraged cooperation, beyond regulation, between the District and local governments. The program has also encouraged local governments to look at their water needs from a regional perspective and work with other governments within their basin. The program has increased the public’s understanding of water resources issues and its participation in water conservation efforts. Most importantly, the program has helped maintain quality water resources throughout the west-central region of Florida.
The CFI program is an integral and important part of the District’s ability to focus water management at the local level and to involve citizens, organizations and local governments in the implementation of the District’s mission — to manage and protect water resources, maintaining the balance between the water needs of current and future users, while protecting and maintaining the natural systems.
If you would like more information about the Cooperative Funding Initiative program, please call 1-800-423-1476, ext. 4781.
May 2005
