Nassau County, FL Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

Unincorporated Nassau County requires new development to hook up to public utilities rather than rely indefinitely on private wells. Sec. 30¾-38(a), adopted by Ord. No. 2023-015 in June 2023, requires that any property being developed, redeveloped, or expanded connect to the county or district's available water and/or wastewater system before a certificate of occupancy is issued. Subsection (c) goes further on the water side: it is unlawful to construct, install, or repair an onsite potable water well on a property where county or district water service is available, with one carved-out exception, an irrigation well is allowed only where reclaimed water is not available. In practice, that flips the priority in areas Nassau Amelia Utilities already serves with reclaimed water: property owners are expected to irrigate with the recycled supply rather than drill or maintain a private well once reclaimed service reaches the parcel.

All connections, whether for potable, wastewater, or reclaimed service, must follow the rules and regulations NAU adopts from time to time under subsection (d), and owners of homesteaded residential property may qualify for financial assistance with connection costs under a separate provision, Sec. 30¾-41. The ordinance does not carve out a general residential right to irrigate from a private well once reclaimed water is on the property line; the well ban in subsection (c) is written as the default, with the reclaimed-water exception as the only listed way around it. Combined with the sewage-system ban in subsection (b), the effect is that a served lot in unincorporated Nassau County is meant to run on the utility's water, wastewater, and reclaimed-water network rather than a mix of private systems the county no longer wants competing with its own infrastructure.