Spring Into Action

I recently moved to Suwannee County (North Florida), exactly six miles away from the prehistoric Suwannee River. Since moving here I have been exploring the many spring flows in the region and I’ve been absolutely mesmerized by the magnitude and beauty of these sacred gifts provided to Floridians by our planet Earth.

Florida is known as the “Land of a thousand springs”, in the Suwannee River alone there are 314 documented springs releasing an average of 2.4 million gallons of water per day (MGD). The Suwannee is often referred to as the “Saudi Arabia of water” due to its abundant water flows. North Florida is a “hydrogeological wonder” with some of the greatest known concentration of springs on Earth.

So what exactly is a spring? A spring is simply where water from the aquifer is naturally released into the surface of the Earth; in Florida it is a powerful source of pure fresh water. The water that comes out of our Florida’s springs is the same water that it is utilized for residential and industrial water supplies - it all comes from the same source, the Floridan Aquifer. 

While some parts of the world suffer great water shortages, sometimes having to import this very basic natural resource from other regions, or go through great lengths to recycle its water due to shortage of the same (Singapore for example), Floridians, perhaps due to the water abundance in the state, take for granted how fortunate they are to live in a region so “water rich” and fail to implement adequate water stewardship initiatives and practices. 

Our planet's composition indicates that water should the least of our concerns, yet our irresponsible water consumption has caused this to be on top of the sustainability crisis. The Suwannee River, the same river that in the year 2000 released an average of 2.4 MGD, was releasing 4.7 MGD in 1930; this is nearly a fifty percent water flow decrease in only seventy years. Overall in the entire state of Florida our spring water flows have declined 32% in that same time span. 

The health of Florida’s springs is being severely threaten by several factors such as excessive recreation, salt water intrusion, inadequate waste water treatment, fertilizer runoffs and excessive pumping. In Suwannee Co. I believe agricultural runoffs and excessive pumping are the highest threat to the regional springs. 

Unfortunately, just as our springs are concentrated in the northern part of the state so is the majority of Florida’s 9.4 million acreage of agricultural crop land which utilizes approximately 200lbs per acre per year of chemical nitrogenous fertilizers; subsequently, the chemical runoffs from these crop lands are ending up on our springs and severely affecting our groundwater quality. Currently, seventy percent of all Florida’s springs violate local water quality standards due to high nitrate concentration. 

Beyond high nitrate levels, local governments have excessively issued water pumping permits. As of 2010, there were approximately 29,000 large permits, legally allowing the pumping of nearly 50% of all of Florida’s springs flow equating to about 4.6 million gallons of water extraction - mostly for agricultural and mining purposes. The very institution that is supposed to be protecting us is the one contributing to this great atrocity. Water is source of all life, yet Florida’s ground water is no longer clean and abundant because our local governments are crippled by greed and well, politics. 

The threat to Florida’s springs is real. In one Florida county water level has declined by 60ft while in other counties some springs have actually completely dried up turning into sink holes or stagnant water basins. Yet, there is nothing, or very little, being done to protect our aquifers and much less to try to reverse the damage already done. It's true, in the state of Florida, we don’t have a water problem, what we have is a water protection and water consumption problem. Florida is very fortunate with relatively stable rainfall and a large underground aquifers, yet irresponsible consumption and waste is severely threatening our aquifers' water level and quality.  Our future is dependent on the health of our aquifers and today we have sufficient data and knowledge to understand our past mistakes and implement sustainable solutions to avoid further deterioration of our water resources; if our politicians are not willing to act we must take matters into our own hands to preserve our water supplies and provide a sustainable water plan to future generations. 

Singapore's water story: