Sumter County, FL Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Primary zone
- 200-ft radius around each wellhead
- Secondary zone
- 500-ft radius, less primary zone
- Reclaimed water lines
- Allowed if FDEP setbacks met
- Reclaimed irrigation
- Exempt from zone use ban
- Enforcing agency
- County administrator/designee with SWFWMD
- Adopted
- Ord. No. 2024-35, Dec. 10, 2024
Summary
Sumter County restricts reclaimed water lines and irrigation near public wellfields. Wellhead protection zones extend 200 feet (primary) and 500 feet (secondary) around each wellhead. Distribution lines carrying FDEP-treated reclaimed water may cross these zones only if they meet FDEP setback distances, and irrigation using FDEP-treated reclaimed water is exempt from the ban.
(1)Primary zone—The area within a 200-foot radius circle around each wellhead.(2)Secondary zone—The area within a 500-foot radius circle around each wellhead, less the primary zone. ... c.Wastewater treatment facilities such as plants, treatment ponds, and RIBs. However, sanitary collection systems and force mains, and distribution lines for reclaimed water meeting FDEP treatment requirements may be allowed as long as they meet the setback distances required by FDEP. Irrigation areas using reclaimed water meeting FDEP treatment requirements are exempt.
Full Breakdown
Sec. 13-432 of the Sumter County Code creates wellfield and aquifer protection zones around every public water supply wellhead: a primary zone within a 200-foot radius and a secondary zone within a 500-foot radius, less the primary area. Inside both zones the code bans sanitary landfills, industrial landfills, hazardous-material storage above SARA/Ch. 252 threshold amounts, petroleum storage and dispensing, junkyards, mines, and wastewater treatment plants, ponds and rapid infiltration basins (RIBs). Reclaimed water is carved out of that wastewater ban: sanitary collection systems, force mains, and distribution lines carrying reclaimed water that meets FDEP treatment requirements may be installed inside a protection zone as long as they observe the setback distances FDEP requires, and irrigation areas that use FDEP-treated reclaimed water are exempt outright.
Future wellfield owners, including utilities and governmental bodies, must own or control the primary zone outright and control secondary-zone land uses through ownership, easement or deed restriction. The county administrator or designee keeps a wellfield protection map identifying every protected wellhead, and existing uses inside a protection zone that violate the policy are evaluated by the county with advice from the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) to gauge contamination risk before the county decides what action, if any, to take. The rule was carried forward by Ord. No. 2024-35, adopted December 10, 2024, as part of the county's rewritten Land Development Code.
Violations & Fines
Wellfield-zone violations run through the countywide penalty in Sec. 1-6: a conviction carries a fine up to $500, up to sixty days in the county jail, or both, and each day a prohibited use continues inside a protection zone is a separate offense. The BOCC may also seek injunctive relief and recover attorney's fees in a civil action, and Development Services can order removal of a nonconforming reclaimed-water line that fails FDEP setbacks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a reclaimed water line cross a Sumter County wellfield protection zone?
Is irrigation with reclaimed water banned near a wellhead?
How big are Sumter County's wellfield protection zones?
What happens if a use inside a protection zone predates the ordinance?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Sumter County
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