Fascinating Facts About Springs

• Springs are openings in the earth from which water flows, forming natural pools that typically overflow into nearby rivers. Florida may have more springs than anywhere else on earth because of its porous limestone – or karst – topography.
• When slightly acidic rainwater filters into the limestone, it moves horizontally. Over thousands of years, sections of the limestone rock dissolve, creating channels and caves. As those cavities grow, the overlying rock may collapse and form a sinkhole or a spring.
• Most Florida springs flow from the Floridan Aquifer, one of the most productive aquifers in the world. Florida has 27 “first magnitude” springs with a total flow of slightly more than eight billion gallons per day. By comparison, Floridians use 7.2 billion gallons of water everyday – 60% drawn from aquifers. That’s more than any other state east of the Mississippi River
• But the state’s ever increasing population, combined with extensive land use changes that adversely affect Florida’s aquifers, has placed springs in jeopardy. Studies by the Florida Geological Survey show only nine individual vents from the state’s 33 largest springs have not been impacted.
• Elevated nitrates – nutrients essential for life that can be catastrophic in an aquatic environment – threaten springs ranging from the highly urbanized Sulphur in Tampa to Wakulla in the Panhandle, one of the world’s largest springs and the centerpiece of a park that attracts 200,000 visitors per year.
• Nitrate levels at Wakulla have increased so dramatically that glass-bottom boat tours must be cancelled some days. Hydrilla, first noticed in 1997, is choking out native grasses and taking over some open areas.
• Researchers are working to determine the exact sources of nitrates at Wakulla, but the limestone formation that makes Florida’s springs so bountiful also means that entire spring recharge basins must be protected from contamination. Just as stormwater carries contaminants into Tampa Bay, water that moves into the aquifer can carry oil, fertilizers, pesticides and bacteria. With springs, though, the contaminants emerging today may have been put into the system years ago.
• Sometimes the results appear more quickly: in Tampa, dye traces have linked Sulphur Springs to nearby sinks used for stormwater collection, resulting in high levels of both bacteria and nitrates.
• Withdrawing water from aquifers also creates adverse impacts, decreasing flow levels at many springs, stressing sensitive plants and animals and potentially causing permanent damage to the aquifer, including sinkholes.