CRYSTAL RIVER, Florida — Governor Ron DeSantis has awarded $100 million in state grants across 45 projects to restore Florida's natural springs and expand the state's water supply, his office announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. The governor made the announcement at the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge and Visitor Center, in a county whose own housing services agency is among the recipients.
Source: Executive Office of the Governor (via EIN News)
"Today in Crystal River, I was proud to announce $100 million for springs restoration and alternative water supply projects throughout Florida," DeSantis said. The money is split evenly between the state's two established grant programs: the Springs Restoration Grant Program and the Alternative Water Supply Grant Program, with $50 million going to each.
$50 million for springs: 23 projects against nitrogen pollution
The Springs Restoration Grant Program will fund 23 projects designed to improve water quality and spring flows through wastewater infrastructure upgrades, septic-system improvements — including converting homes from septic tanks to central sewer — and land conservation, according to the governor's office. The projects are projected to reduce total nitrogen runoff by an additional 55,000 pounds per year. Nitrogen flowing into Florida's springs from septic systems, wastewater and farm runoff feeds the algae growth that clouds spring water and harms the ecosystems and manatee habitat the springs support.
Source: The Floridian Press
The springs awards reach the cities of DeLand, Hawthorne, Madison, Trenton and Williston, and the counties of Alachua, Citrus, Jackson, Leon, Marion, Orange, Volusia and Wakulla, along with the Suwannee River Water Management District, the Floridian Press reported. Named local awards include $3 million to Citrus County for septic-to-sewer conversion and upgrade projects, $2 million for the Homosassa River Restoration Project and $2 million for Save Crystal River's Kings Bay Restoration Project.
$50 million for alternative water supply: 22 projects, 60 million gallons a day
The second $50 million funds 22 alternative water-supply projects that will help towns and cities plan and build water conservation, reuse and new supply projects. Together they are expected to produce more than 60 million gallons of water per day once built — supply meant to take pressure off the aquifers that also feed the springs. The awards include $12.6 million for seven Polk County communities to develop brackish-water supplies, according to the Lakeland Gazette's account of the announcement.
Source: Lakeland Gazette
Background: a running state programme, not a one-off
Florida presents itself as home to more large natural springs than anywhere else in the world, and their protection has been a recurring state spending line for years. Since 2019, the state has invested $480 million in springs restoration projects, contributing to an estimated annual nitrogen reduction of approximately 900,000 pounds, and lawmakers have appropriated $385 million toward alternative water-supply development over the same period, according to figures published with this week's announcement. Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Alexis A. Lambert's department administers both grant programmes. The full list of Fiscal Year 2026-27 water quality and supply grant projects is posted at ProtectingFloridaTogether.gov/Grants, the governor's office said.
For homeowners in the awarded communities, the practical effect is concrete: septic-to-sewer conversions and wastewater upgrades funded at state level rather than entirely by local utility bills, and new reuse and brackish-water capacity intended to keep taps reliable as Florida's population keeps growing.
What happens next
The grants now move to the recipient cities, counties and water districts to contract and build. Citrus County, for example, said it anticipates receiving its newly awarded funds next year for its septic upgrade programme. Environmental groups and local utilities will be watching two numbers as the projects are built: whether the projected 55,000-pound annual nitrogen reduction shows up in spring water-quality monitoring, and whether the 60 million gallons a day of new supply arrives on schedule. The governor has also encouraged the incoming Legislature to keep funding both programmes in the next state budget.