JEFFERSON COUNTY, Fla. (WCTV) – Jefferson County residents heard an update Thursday evening about what’s happening at the cannabis plant Trulieve.

The discussion follows a series of concerns from residents about possible water issues linked to the facility.

While Trulieve officials were not at Thursday’s meeting, Jefferson County residents did hear from the Suwannee River Water Management District about the permits connected to the facility and what happens next.

Chief Professional Engineer with the Suwannee River Water Management District, Leroy Marshall, presented a timeline of events to residents.

He says Trulieve has two types of permits, a water use permit and a stormwater permit.

Marshall says the district received its first complaint about Trulieve in October of 2023.

Since then, he says they’ve received several more and have been working through the issues.

The most recent complaint, he says, came from a resident they met with in February of this year. That resident’s property backs up to the facility, and his complaint involved water pumping, erosion and water quality concerns.

Marshall says Trulieve was supposed to report the pumping under its stormwater permit and did not.

He says the district has been working with Trulieve since March to fix the issues. Trulieve has now applied for a new permit.

“The newest permit is again to separate the operational water from the stormwater. It’s been in about a week, a little over a week, we really haven’t had a time to dig into it and get all of the questions we have, but we will do that over the next couple of weeks and respond,” Marshall said.

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Marshall says the district is also working through a notice of noncompliance with Trulieve.

He says that the process will end with a compliance agreement outlining what Trulieve needs to fix. Once those issues are resolved, the noncompliance case will close.

As for what’s next, the Suwannee River Water Management District says Trulieve will face penalties related to this case, but right now it’s still unclear what those penalties could be.

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