- January 22, 2026
Does Volusia County need a county charter amendment to protect it against "toilet to tap" initiatives?
At least one local political group believes the answer is yes.
Political committee Let Volusia Vote, led by Daytona Beach resident Greg Gimbert, is leading a grassroots effort to petition Volusia County to place a charter amendment on the 2026 ballot that would prohibit blackwater from potable water reuse and from being injected into the aquifer, unless it was a voter-approved measure.
Gimbert approached the Volusia County Council with this proposal at their meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Previously on Dec. 17, Gimbert spoke before the Ormond Beach City Commission, where officials — as individual citizens, and not as a body — pledged to sign a petition in favor of the charter amendment.
"This is just the beginning of a conversation that I hope you guys will start to have about the fallacy that we can take treated sewage and stick it in the aquifer and think we're protecting clean water instead of poisoning it," Gimbert said. "If it's not safe to bring straight to tap and it's not safe to put in the river, how in the heck is it safe to put in the river source?"
This isn't a new topic for the Volusia County Council or Chair Jeff Brower. In 2022, Brower was pushing for a county ordinance to prohibit a "toilet to tap" initiative. This came a few years after the City of Daytona Beach proposed a wastewater drinking water pilot program in 2018, though the initiative was later abandoned.
At the time in 2022, the County Council wasn't interested in a county ordinance to prevent blackwater reuse. In fact, the council voted 4-1 to never discuss the issue again until a new council was sworn into office. Brower was the lone vote against.
Today, his stance on blackwater reuse remains the same.
"There's very few people that are excited about injecting cleaned-up sewage water into our aquifer," Brower said.
This time, he's not alone in his opinion. County Councilmen Troy Kent and Don Dempsey voiced support for a charter amendment, and the council unanimously voted to direct staff to bring back information and a legal analysis on the issue.
"I'm in favor of letting the local people vote, because once they put that stuff in our drinking supply, we're trusting the government science, and I don't feel comfortable with that," Dempsey said.
Councilman Jake Johansson said he's supportive of the public voting on things they're well informed about.
"I don't want the verbiage to say, 'Do you want poopy water injected in your aquifer?'" Johansson said. "Because that's very misleading."
When the council last discussed "toilet to tap" in 2022, staff prepared a memo that outlined that state law preempts local governments from prohibiting potable water reuse in many areas. In addition, Senate Bill 64 — which was signed by the governor in 2021 — requires local governments to authorize potable reuse water graywater technology "under specific circumstances." Graywater includes waste from baths, bathroom faucets and laundries.
"There are a lot of things that each of us can have personal opinions on that are good or bad," County Attorney Mike Dyer said. "But, I would recommend that we at least talk about what is out there and what is the form for attacking this concern — if it is a concern — and I will tell you that you're looking at Tallahassee."
Dyer added that blackwater reuse is a "complex issue" and that he would be doing the council a disservice if he didn't inform them of the legal environment surrounding the issue.
Dempsey said that he wanted to give people "some sort of Home Rule protection: through a county charter. He used conservation easements as an example of how the county is giving away home rule.
Dyer said that was a separate issue.
"We're talking about, for example, if somebody came and said, 'You know what, I want Volusia County to be free of all guns, and I want that to be voted on in our charter,'" Dyer said. "There are state and federal laws that apply to that question."
It's possible, he explained, that the county could implement some regulations for the unincorporated area, but state laws would prevent the county from doing the same in its 16 cities.
