Abstract The proportionate amount of surface area that can be paved in Floridan aquifer recharge areas in east-central Florida without reducing the net recharge to the Floridan aquifer is a function of many variables that include rainfall, depth to water table, depth to potentiometric surface of the Floridan, evaporation from paved areas, evapotranspiration from unpaved areas, runoff, pattern of paving, and leakance coefficient of the confining beds. Equations that incorporate those variables, except pattern of paving, are developed and coupled to produce a conceptual model that estimates relative amounts of water available for recharge and percentage of unpaved area below which Floridan aquifer recharge rates must increase. An assumption inherent in the use of the model is that the excess water that runs off from the paved areas is placed in the nonartesian aquifer in the unpaved area so that the water table rises and thus increases the hydraulic head difference between the nonartesian and Floridan aquifers. Thus, water is driven across the confining beds and into the Floridan at a rate that is sufficiently increased so as to make up for the reduced area due to paving under which recharge actually occurs. Many assumptions and stipulations are made to simplify the model. The model is not intended to be used as a basis for engineering design. Rather, its purpose is to show approximate mathematical interrelations of rainfall, runoff, evapotranspiration, percentage of paving, and Floridan aquifer recharge, and to make quantitative estimates of amounts of water available for Floridan aquifer recharge before and after paving. The allowable percentage of paving calculated in 4 examples ranges from 86.8 percent to 3.6 percent.