Re-evaluation of Minimum Flows and Levels for the Santa Fe and Ichetucknee

Post author:Haley Moody
Post published:February 3, 2020
Post category:Bob Knight Drinking Water Education Publications Springs Science
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It is not in the public’s best interest to dry up or pollute any of Florida’s artesian springs. Healthy springs support a vast and abundant assemblage of charismatic and endangered wildlife, nourish our many rivers and lakes during droughts, and are the sought-after playground for tens of millions of visitors each year. Springs are essential for our local ecology and economy. Governmental agencies responsible for protecting Florida’s environmental prosperity would be reckless and irresponsible to allow priceless…

Fla. gets a tiny paycheck as Nestle taps its springs

Post author:Haley Moody
Post published:January 27, 2020
Post category:Bottled Water Drinking Water Publications Springs Science

WATER POLICY Fla. gets a tiny paycheck as Nestlé taps its springs James Marshall, E&E News reporter Greenwire: Friday, January 24, 2020 Ginnie Springs is one of more than 1,000 springs that provide fresh water from the Floridan Aquifer. Nestlé Waters North America is seeking permission to source 1.15 million gallons a day from the spring near Gainesville, Fla. (WT-de) Mistoffeles/Wikimedia Commons The world's largest food company wants permission from Florida to take more than 1 million gallons…

Photo by Anne Barca

Improve State Plans or Springs Are Doomed

Post author:Haley Moody
Post published:December 10, 2019
Post category:Bob Knight Bottled Water Drinking Water Education Op-ed Publications Springs Science
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The Florida legislature had ample warning that their 2016 Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act was inadequate to fix the nitrate pollution nightmare in Florida’s springs. The Florida Springs Council warned the legislature that this law as written did not have the teeth needed to solve a problem 50 years in the making. As required by the Act, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) determined that 24 of 30 Outstanding Florida Springs are currently impaired by…

Springs Outing: Remarkable Karst Features Near High Springs

Post author:flspringsinst
Post published:May 28, 2019
Post category:Education Springs Outings Springs Science
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The May 2019 FSI outing explored three distinct and impressive karst features all located within five miles of the Florida Springs Institute High Springs office, including: the Santa Fe River Rise in O’Leno State Park; Scrubtown Sink, a giant sinkhole used as a dump; and a little known Ichetucknee-like karst valley with an extinct headspring, rocky walls, caves, and park-quality forest. We started the day at the rather unspectacular River Rise, which is the second largest dark…

Closeup shot of a man pouring a glass of fresh water from a kitchen faucet

Too Polluted to Drink

Post author:flspringsinst
Post published:November 15, 2018
Post category:Bob Knight Drinking Water Education Health Op-ed Springs Science
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For too many families, North Florida’s once pristine groundwater may be unsafe to drink. One nasty pollutant is nitrate, a principal ingredient in synthetic agricultural and urban fertilizers, and in animal manure and human waste. In the past 100 years of rapid development, the ambient concentration of nitrate throughout the Floridan Aquifer has risen from a baseline concentration of less than 0.05 parts per million (ppm) to 1 ppm, a 20-fold increase. As with most environmental variables,…