The Ginnie Springs File · Water permits · Bottled water · Suwannee River Water Management District
Permit, court and SEC records · updated Oct. 20, 2026
$115 renewed a permit to pump 984,000 gallons a day at Ginnie Springs.
The state charges nothing for the water.
Since 1998, a family-owned company called Seven Springs Water Co. has piped groundwater from the Ginnie Springs area of Gilchrist County to a bottling plant a short distance away. The plant has passed from AquaPenn to Coca-Cola, Ice River Springs, Nestlé Waters North America, BlueTriton Brands and now Primo Brands. The state charges nothing for the water itself. Seven Springs paid the Suwannee River Water Management District a $115 renewal fee in 2019. The district first moved to deny the renewal, then approved it after two administrative judges ruled for the company. The bottler, Primo Brands, reported $6.66 billion in net sales last year. The permit now runs to Nov. 8, 2028. Here is what the fee covers, how much is actually pumped, who owns each link in the chain, how the permit survived, who argued for it, what is happening to the river, and what the records do not show.
$115 is a processing fee. Florida charges nothing for the water.
On March 15, 2019, a consultant for Seven Springs paid the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) $115 online as the application fee for renewing water use permit 2-041-218202. That is the district’s set fee to renew or modify any water use permit under 2 million gallons a day; a new permit of the same size costs $230. Florida has no per-gallon extraction, severance or bottling charge, so the fee is the only payment the state receives for the permit. What the bottler pays Seven Springs for the water is private: Seven Springs’ president told WLRN in 2021 that a nondisclosure agreement keeps her from saying.
What the fee is not: a price for water. Florida treats groundwater as a public resource that is permitted, not sold. Seven Springs is paid by the bottler under a private contract; that amount is not in any public record we found. The current version of the permit, issued Dec. 12, 2023, was a “letter modification” to add BlueTriton as co-permittee; whether a separate fee was paid for it is not shown in the file.
The permit allows 984,000 gallons a day. The last year averaged about 316,000.
The permit file holds the 1994 original and four later versions. The original allowed 1.728 million gallons a day; it was cut to 1.152 million in 1995 and stayed there for more than 20 years. The 2021 renewal cut the allowance to 984,000. Actual pumping has always been well below the cap: the highest annual average from 1995 to 2019 was 387,400 gallons a day, in 2006. Seven Springs’ own monthly reports to the district, on file from April 2025, show the busiest month was that April, at about 555,000 a day.
| Version | Issued | Expires | Average allowed | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Sept. 23, 1994 | Sept. 23, 1999 | 1.728 million gal/day | Capped at 630.72 million gallons a year |
| -1 | Sept. 11, 1995 | Sept. 11, 2015 | 1.152 million gal/day | 20-year term; daily records reported monthly |
| -2 (modification) | June 25, 1999 | June 25, 2019 | 1.152 million gal/day | Same allocation |
| -3 (renewal) | Feb. 24, 2021 | Feb. 24, 2026 | 984,000 gal/day | Five-year term; $115 fee |
| -4 (current) | Dec. 12, 2023 | Nov. 8, 2028 | 984,000 gal/day | Adds BlueTriton Brands as co-permittee; landowner Wray Spring Land Trust, LLC |
| Month | Gallons | Average per day |
|---|---|---|
| April 2025 (highest month seen) | 16,645,585 | about 555,000 |
| May 2025 | 15,631,529 | about 504,000 |
| June 2025 | 13,282,582 | about 443,000 |
| October 2025 (lowest month seen) | 7,263,208 | about 234,000 |
| January 2026 | 11,575,730 | about 373,000 |
| September 2026 (latest, filed Oct. 5) | 8,482,088 | about 283,000 |
| Oct. 2025–Sept. 2026 | about 115 million | about 316,000 (32% of the cap) |
Why the gap matters: a permit holder can raise pumping to the full allocation at any time without new approval. Under the state’s 2026 recovery rule for the Lower Santa Fe (see “The river,” below), allocations above a permit’s “demonstrated 2025 demand” now carry an offset requirement.
A family company holds the permit. A $6.66 billion public company owns the plant.
The source
- Seven Springs Water Company, a Florida corporation filed April 27, 1994 (Sunbiz P94000032027), active. Officers: Risa J. Wray (president, treasurer and registered agent), Rhonda Wray Johnson (vice president), Erin J. Barker (secretary), Ryan Wray Klemans (assistant treasurer).
- Ginnie Springs Water Company (P00000098291) has the same officers and addresses.
- Ginnie Springs Outdoors, LLC (L01000010430), which runs the public park on the Santa Fe River, is managed by Taylor Wray Skiles and Megan Ann Wray. Sunbiz shows no formal link between it and Seven Springs; news reports describe both as owned by the Wray family.
- The current permit names Wray Spring Land Trust, LLC as landowner.
The plant and its owners
- 1998 Plant at 7100 NE County Road 340, Gilchrist County, built and run by AquaPenn (Danone). Water arrives by underground pipeline.
- 2002–2011 Owned by Coca-Cola; later run by Canadian bottler Ice River Springs.
- Dec. 28, 2018 Nestlé Waters North America buys it from Ice River Springs Marianna for an undisclosed price, to bottle Zephyrhills and Nestlé Pure Life.
- March 31, 2021 Nestlé’s North American water business sold to One Rock Capital Partners with Metropoulos & Co. (reported price $4.3 billion); renamed BlueTriton Brands.
- Nov. 8, 2024 BlueTriton combines with Primo Water to form Primo Brands Corp. (NYSE: PRMB), headquartered in Tampa and Stamford, Conn.
What these filings do not show: Primo Brands reports more than 80 spring sources, the bulk in Maine, Pennsylvania, California, Florida and Texas, and says spreading supply across many springs avoids dependence on any single source. Its 10-Ks, 2026 10-Qs and merger proxy never mention Ginnie Springs, High Springs or Seven Springs, so no revenue can be tied to this source. Its 2025 10-K says the company owns the U.S. trademark registrations for Pure Life; the brand began as Nestlé’s.
The district moved to deny it. Two judges and four unanimous board votes later, it stands.
- March 2019 Seven Springs applies to renew at 1.152 million gallons a day for five years and pays $115. District staff send three requests for more information (April, July, November).
- March 3, 2020 The district issues notice that it intends to deny the permit. Seven Springs petitions for a hearing (DOAH 20-1329).
- July 31, 2020 District staff agree to settle at 984,000 gallons a day.
- Aug. 11, 2020 The governing board tables the application; a board member says Nestlé should be a co-applicant. The case returns to the Division of Administrative Hearings as DOAH 20-3581.
- Jan. 20, 2021 Administrative Law Judge G.W. Chisenhall recommends the permit be issued.
- Feb. 23, 2021 The board approves it 7–0 on a roll call, “under protest,” to preserve an appeal (Final Order 21-003). Board counsel advised that a five-year renewal with no increase could not be denied on minimum-flow grounds under the 2015 recovery strategy.
- March–April 2021 Board counsel files an appeal (1st DCA 1D21-0888); on April 13 the board votes unanimously to drop it in exchange for Seven Springs waiving defenses that would block the district from raising the issue of who controls the pumping in later cases.
- May 11, 2021 The board dismisses challenges by the Florida Springs Council and a resident (DOAH 21-1180 and 21-1179), unanimously.
- Nov. 30, 2022 The First District Court of Appeal reverses and gives the Council a hearing (1D21-1445; 354 So. 3d 622).
- Feb. 6, 2023 On Seven Springs’ challenge, Judge Francine Ffolkes declares the district rule that gave the Council its hearing right invalid, going forward only, in a final order (DOAH 22-3908RX).
- April 11, 2023 All parties agree to add BlueTriton Brands as co-permittee.
- Oct. 17, 2023 Judge Ffolkes recommends issuing the permit. She finds the Council challenged only the “public interest” criterion, which the district’s rules already build into its other criteria; that about 19,000 public comments are not a permitting standard; and that the Council had agreed the permit met every harm and minimum-flow criterion.
- Dec. 12, 2023 The board adopts Final Order 23-006 unanimously and issues the current permit, expiring Nov. 8, 2028. No appeal appears in the permit file or on the Council’s case page.
Who voted
- Feb. 23, 2021 (7–0 roll call): Virginia H. Johns (chair), Charles Keith, Virginia Sanchez, Richard Schwab, Larry Sessions, Harry Smith, Larry Thompson.
- Dec. 12, 2023 (unanimous, no roll call): Johns, Schwab, Keith, William Lloyd, Thompson, Sessions, Smith.
- No recusals or conflicts are recorded in either set of minutes.
Who appointed them
- Governing board members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Smith (2020), Sessions (2020), Thompson (2020) and Lloyd (2021), and reappointed Johns, Schwab and Keith. Sanchez was reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott to a term that ran to March 1, 2021.
Seven Springs’ lawyer at both votes, and his law firm, were registered to lobby for Nestlé.
Doug Manson argued for Seven Springs at the 2021 and 2023 board meetings. Florida’s lobbyist records show Manson registered to lobby the Legislature and the executive branch for Nestlé Waters North America in 2018 and 2019, through his firm, then called Manson Bolves Donaldson Varn. His partner Laura Jacobs Donaldson stayed registered for Nestlé and then BlueTriton through 2024. The guest list in the Feb. 23, 2021 minutes includes Donaldson, Nestlé’s other registered lobbyist M. Lane Stephens, and Craig Varn. The registrations were public throughout, and the bottler’s interest in the permit was open: in 2020 a board member said Nestlé should be a co-applicant, and BlueTriton was added as co-permittee in 2023.
| Client | Lobbyists (firm) | Years | Reported pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nestlé Waters North America | Douglas Manson, Laura Jacobs Donaldson (Manson Bolves); M. Lane Stephens (SCG Governmental Affairs) | 2018–2021 | Ranges up to $20,000–29,999 a quarter; one exact report of $57,000 (Manson Bolves, legislative, Q2 2020) |
| BlueTriton Brands | Donaldson (2021–2024); Stephens (2021–2026) | 2021–2026 | Mostly $1–9,999 a quarter; $10,000–19,999 in most legislative quarters since 2024 (SCG) |
| Seven Springs Water Co. | Jonathan Paul Steverson (Foley & Lardner) | 2020 only | $0 to $1–9,999 a quarter |
| BlueTriton (federal) | Porterfield, Fettig & Sears | 2014–2026 | $30,000 a quarter (2015–2019), $40,000 a quarter since 2020; issues listed include water resources and bottled-water production |
Campaign money · who gave and who did not
- Small business-group gifts only: BlueTriton Brands gave $375 each to the Florida Chamber of Commerce PAC and the Northwest Florida Chamber Alliance PAC (Oct. 21, 2022). Nestlé Waters North America gave $20 to TREEPAC (May 16, 2018).
- Did not give: from 2018 to Oct. 20, 2026 we found no other Florida contributions from those companies or Primo Brands, none from Seven Springs Water Co., and none from its officers Risa Wray, Rhonda Wray Johnson or Erin Barker. No candidate or officeholder received money from any of them in that period.
- Ginnie Springs Outdoors, LLC, the park company, gave $3,000 to the political committee Liberty4Florida in fall 2020 ($2,000 on Sept. 15, $1,000 on Oct. 23), plus three gifts under $50 each to the Florida Campground PAC (2018, 2021, 2022).
- Before the period above, the Nestlé Waters federal PAC gave the Republican Party of Florida $5,000 in 2006 and $5,000 in 2007.
Two of the three river gauges are below their legal minimum flows. The rules changed July 1.
Ginnie Springs feeds the Lower Santa Fe River. The state set minimum flows for the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee rivers in 2015 and found them in recovery, meaning flows had to be restored. The district’s 2022 assessment found the Santa Fe at Fort White meeting its minimum, but the Santa Fe at U.S. 441 and the Ichetucknee at U.S. 27 falling short, with the shortfalls projected to grow by 2045. In early October 2026, after a dry year (the district notified both permittees in February of a January drought advisory), daily flow at Fort White ran well below the 10th percentile for those dates, within about 10–15% of the record lows set in 2012.
| Gauge | Recent net flow vs. minimum | Projected 2045 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Fe near Fort White (USGS 02322500) | +29.7 cfs | +4.2 cfs | Meeting |
| Santa Fe at U.S. 441 (02321975) | −1.0 cfs | −17.3 cfs | In recovery |
| Ichetucknee at U.S. 27 (02322700) | −6.3 cfs | −13.2 cfs | In recovery |
- Scale: the full 984,000-gallon allocation equals about 1.5 cfs; the Santa Fe at Fort White ran 958 cfs on Oct. 19, 2026. The district’s 2022 assessment attributes far larger reductions at Fort White to all regional groundwater pumping combined: about 73 cfs for 2014–2018, rising to about 99 cfs by 2045.
- The 2026 rule: revised minimum flows and a new recovery strategy (state rule 62-42.300, adopted by the Department of Environmental Protection) took effect July 1, 2026, after the Legislature ratified them in HB 1417 (Ch. 2026-2). Existing permits count as consistent only up to their “demonstrated 2025 demand”; above that, a permittee must identify an offset project within five years, and any renewal above 2025 demand must be offset. Seven Springs’ reported use from April through December 2025 averaged about 368,000 gallons a day, 37% of its allocation. Whether the district has calculated its 2025 demand is not in the file.
- The permit itself lets the district modify it mid-term to comply with the new recovery strategy (condition 20), forbids trucking water off-site in bulk (condition 25), and requires keeping the Ginnie Springs gauge running (condition 23).
- Nitrogen: a separate state restoration plan for the Santa Fe springs targets a 1.43-million-pound annual nitrogen reduction, mostly from farm fertilizer and livestock; bottling is not a listed source.
Ten bills to charge for bottled water. All died in committee.
| Year | Bill | Sponsor | Charge | Where it died |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | SB 1098 (+ SB 1096) | Sen. Janet Cruz | 5¢ a gallon; exempted withdrawals under 55 million gallons a year | Senate Environment & Natural Resources |
| 2020 | SB 1112 | Sen. Annette Taddeo | 12.5¢ a gallon excise tax | Senate Commerce & Tourism |
| 2020 | HB 861 | Rep. Matt Willhite | 12.5¢ a gallon excise tax | House Ways & Means |
| 2021 | SB 1776 (+ SB 1774) | Sen. Janet Cruz | 5¢ a gallon, to water management districts | Senate Environment & Natural Resources |
| 2021 | SB 652 | Sen. Annette Taddeo | 12.5¢ a gallon excise tax, to grants and loans | Senate Environment & Natural Resources |
| 2021 | HB 1237 | Rep. Joseph Casello | 12.5¢ a gallon excise tax | House Ways & Means |
| 2022 | SB 798 | Sen. Annette Taddeo | 12.5¢ a gallon excise tax | Senate Environment & Natural Resources |
| 2022 | HB 473 | Rep. Joseph Casello | 12.5¢ a gallon excise tax | House Ways & Means |
What those rates would mean here (SignalData’s arithmetic, not a forecast): at last year’s actual pumping of about 115 million gallons, a 5¢ fee would raise about $5.8 million a year and a 12.5¢ tax about $14.4 million. At the full permitted 359 million gallons, about $18.0 million and $44.9 million. SB 1098’s 55-million-gallon exemption would not have covered this permit. A tax on bottled water sold would apply to sales, not withdrawals, so these figures are an upper-bound illustration.
The open questions.
- The price of the water. What BlueTriton/Primo pays Seven Springs is under a nondisclosure agreement.
- Why the permit runs to 2028. The December 2023 permit says Nov. 8, 2028; the staff report issued the same day says Feb. 24, 2026. The application asked only to add BlueTriton. We have asked the district (below).
- The 2026 offset rule. Whether the district has set Seven Springs’ “demonstrated 2025 demand,” and whether the unused part of the allocation will need an offset project.
- The plant’s output and value. Primo Brands does not report sales by plant or source; the Gilchrist County property appraiser’s parcel record was not reachable for this edition.
- Money through other names. We searched by company and officer names. Gifts by family members not listed as officers, or through intermediaries, would not appear in those searches.
- Court dockets. The First District’s dockets for 1D21-0888 and 1D21-1445 and the DOAH 21-1180 docket were not reachable; Final Order 23-006 is described from the board minutes. No appeal of it appears in the records we saw.
Every card carries its source and its limits.
Responses and open questions
- SignalData will seek comment from Seven Springs Water Co., Primo Brands, the Suwannee River Water Management District (including on the 2028 expiration date and the 2025-demand calculation), the Florida Springs Council and Manson Bolves Donaldson Tanner before this File leaves preview. Responses will be added here, dated.