Once compared to some of North America’s greatest hydrological wonders, including Niagara Falls and the Mississippi River, the 1850s North Florida springs were admired for their extreme water clarity and complex ecosystems. Like the South Florida Everglades, North Florida’s natural springs continue to entertain millions. Healthy springs, increasingly “discovered” by tourists and recreational enthusiasts from inside and outside Florida, offer waders and swimmers the coolness of pure water against unique underwater forests of aquatic plants and animals. Offers.
Like Florida’s springs, the Florida Everglades have struggled to survive in the face of rampant drainage and development. Most of the habitat and wildlife have been lost. Ecosystems linked by the Florida Bay, Caloosahatchie River, and St. He Lucy River are being disrupted by altered and polluted watercourses. Remaining Everglades sawgrass and sedge meadows are also being damaged by drainage and filling.
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Thirty-five years ago, the ecological death of the Everglades was imminent. Today, monumental efforts to save these vital lands have made it possible to imagine a lasting future for the amazing Everglades.
The 2.7 million-acre Florida Springs area, 400 miles north of the Everglades, is centered around the Florida Springs Heartland in the Suwannee River basin, which includes its major tributaries, the Santa Fe and Ichetucknee rivers. Historically pumping about 4.7 billion gallons of fresh groundwater per day, this watershed rivals the Everglades in size and grandeur. Along these three rivers, more than 300 springs are arranged like beautiful blue beads.
During a historically dry period, the Suwannee and Santa Fe rivers were clear throughout the winding course. A canoe trip on either river seemed like endless opportunities to “spring hop” from unique spring to unique spring.
Nearly 50% of the total flow from these springs was lost due to excessive groundwater pumping in South Georgia and North Florida. More than 5,000 tons of nitrate pollute these rivers each year from intensive fertilization, dairy farms and poultry farms. Sadly, efforts by state or federal water managers are insufficient to stem the damaging tide of growing water and nutrient-intensive agriculture in the Suwannee River Basin.
A recent study of the largest Suwannee River springs – Lafayette Blue, Troy, Fanning and Manatee, all featured in Florida’s famous state parks and all of the designated Outstanding Florida Springs – rated four 1st grade all of the springs were found to be ecologically dead or dying. This is despite empty promises and wasted tax dollars by the Florida government to “restore the springs.”
A low flow rate in a spring increases backflow with tannic river water, causing the spring to “brown” for a long period of time. Increasing brownouts and nutrient pollution contribute to the loss of native spring plant communities and aquatic fauna.Tannin water-filled springs are also shunned by recreational swimmers and scuba divers. .
Most of the Suwanee springs are covered in toxic algae and have few fish. Manatees can no longer find the aquatic plants they need to survive. Based on the Florida Springs Institute’s quantitative assessment of Spring’s health over his year, Lafayette Blue and Troy received an F rating, Fanning received a D rating, and Manatee received a C Plus rating.
Please believe that the Tallahassee politicians are concerned about our wells and are taking effective action to reverse this tragedy. I don’t want you, the person concerned, to know what I’m doing.
Despite state press releases, the data and our own eyes don’t lie. Many of Florida’s most prized springs are dying.
The Florida Everglades were on the brink of destruction by human agricultural and urban development in the last century. But in 1988, the federal government sued Florida under the US Clean Water Act. That lawsuit eventually led to the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, in which the Florida government participated in restoring and preserving the Everglades.
But the inconvenient truth is that the Clean Water Act is violated in nearly every Florida spring and in many lakes, rivers and estuaries. Like the Everglades, wouldn’t Florida’s springs need to enter a national park to receive federal protection?
Bob Knight is Director of the Florida Springs Institute at the Florida Springs Welcome Center in High Springs.
