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City of Gainesville Basin Planning The City of Gainesville, Florida drains, or is drained by, four surface water basins. Both the City of Gainesville and Alachua County share political responsibility for each of these basins. The urban creek basins in Gainesville and Alachua County have been significantly impacted by development, much of which occurred prior to the emergence of contemporary water management policy. As a result, there are currently significant management issues facing the City of Gainesville and Alachua County. The process of basin planning, a comprehensive approach to water resource management that emphasizes a watershed perspective, can assist in addressing these management issues. There is significant public interest in preserving the interrelated surface water and wetland systems that contribute to the unique character of the Gainesville community. While the scale of Gainesville's watershed systems is relatively small, consisting mainly of creeks, there is considerable concern about protecting these resources. Most of these creeks flow through a highly urbanized environment before disappearing back into the Floridan Aquifer, which is the state's largest source of drinking water. In addition, creeks and wetlands are the lifeblood for significant natural areas such as Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and San Felasco Preserve State Park. Because much of Gainesville's development occurred before stormwater management and buffer requirements, many of the creek ecosystems are seriously degraded. As a result, watershed management issues have been receiving increasing attention within a dynamic policy environment. The March 2003 report prepared by the University of Florida Conservation Clinic and the University of Florida Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands examines conceptual frameworks for basin planning and some of the implications for these frameworks in Gainesville. The report addresses the following aspects of basin planning:
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