About the District

Message from the Executive Director

I am honored and humbled to be entrusted with the position of executive director of the St. Johns River Water Management District. It is a daunting responsibility, and I feel fortunate to have experience with the District during the past three years both as a Board member and as general counsel. I will draw on those experiences, and my 30 years of legal and business experience, to shape what I know will be an extremely successful agency that will be directly accountable to the public and our leaders in Tallahassee.

Florida’s regional approach to water resource issues is one of the most progressive approaches in the country, and I recognize the enormous expectations that all of our diverse stakeholder groups have for our work in the coming years. The water management districts have recently undergone a period of significant change as they have been right-sized to focus on their core missions and top priorities. The process of right-sizing is a process and not an event, and I fully supported the organizational adjustments that now allow us to move forward with the work we are responsible for: water supply; water quality and natural systems protection and improvement; and flood protection.

I have identified my top three priorities for the immediate future, and I began working on them my first day on the job.

My first priority is to implement the recently reorganized structure, to motivate our employees and to ensure that they share the vision that our Governing Board and I have for the future. During this time of organizational change, I will work to ensure that our staff focuses on our core missions while providing good customer service to the variety of stakeholders that we, as a government agency, serve.

My second priority is to timely and cost-effectively complete the construction of major water supply and water quality improvement projects that we have already made progress on and have invested resources in planning and developing. In all cases, completing those projects will provide long-term water resource benefits in environmentally sound ways.

My third priority is to accelerate the agency’s work developing strategies to ensure that our water resources are protected from groundwater withdrawals — something we refer to as minimum flows and levels (MFLs) prevention and recovery strategies. MFLs are important components of the District’s work to ensure adequate water supplies today and well into the future, while protecting our rivers, lakes, springs and wetlands.

Implicit in these priorities and the agency’s everyday work is an emphasis on good customer service, and ensuring that stakeholders have meaningful opportunities to provide input into our deliberations and decision-making. We have statutory responsibilities, which I know we can meet in a more collaborative way with some of the more than 4 million people in our region in northeast and east-central Florida.

I embrace the opportunity before me to lead this agency for the betterment of all of us and the water resources that we depend upon, and I look forward to getting to know and working with some of you along the way.

Sincerely,

Hans G. Tanzler III, Executive Director
St. Johns River Water Management District