t/sdcard/DCIM/100GOPRO/GOPR1105

The next fatality in Florida’s springs pandemic?

Post author:Haley Moody
Post published:August 14, 2020
Post category:Bob Knight
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Robert L. Knight. Published in the Gainesville Sun on August 14th, 2020 Rainbow Springs, located in southwest Marion County, long nourished the Rainbow River with over 450 million gallons per day of cool, clear and clean groundwater. During Florida’s inevitable droughts, Rainbow’s reliable groundwater discharge historically supported productive fisheries in the lower Withlacoochee River and Withlacoochee Bay. Ongoing monitoring has documented a catastrophic decline in flows in the Rainbow River and in the downstream water bodies. Based…

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,…

Thank God for Cool Springs

Post author:flspringsinst
Post published:July 27, 2018
Post category:Op-ed
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Summer in North Florida can be brutal. Working outside during 90+ degree days is utterly draining. Just six hours spent landscaping and mowing last Saturday made me feel like I was 150 years old. I admire the many working folks who endure long days in Florida’s intense sun and humidity. But why do those who have a choice continue to live here and why do more people move to Florida each day? Visit the new Gilchrist Blue…

Tierra del Agua

Post author:flspringsinst
Post published:July 6, 2018
Post category:Op-ed
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Instead of “Land of Flowers”, Florida could just as easily have been named “Tierra del Agua” by the European invaders of the early 16th century. Originally blessed with more than 1,200 miles of coastal shorelines, 20 million acres of freshwater wetlands, 7,700 lakes, 11,000 miles of streams, and at least 1,100 artesian springs and their spring runs, the geography of Florida is about water. Not surprisingly, since the first Earth Day in 1970 Florida’s government has taken…