Jason Gulley got it right when he says Florida’s springs are at the center of a slow-motion environmental tragedy.
For causes he lists “…a combination of development, population growth, climate change, over-pumping of the aquifer and pollution from agriculture and sewage…” The two main springs he mentions, Kissengen and White, were likely killed mostly by phosphate mining.
But overall the main problems are over-pumping and excess fertilizer. So we know the reasons but our leaders choose not to fix the problems.
Read the original article here with the many outstanding underwater photographs here at this link to the New York Times.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
Descending Into Florida’s Underwater Caves
The world’s densest collection of freshwater springs is at the center of a slow-motion environmental tragedy.
Long before theme parks began sprouting from Orlando’s swamps, Florida’s freshwater springs were among the area’s main attractions.
Indigenous Americans made use of the springs for thousands of years before Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 1500s. The conquistadors’ reports of clear water gushing from cavernous holes in forest floors fueled myths about the existence of the Fountain of Youth.
A few hundred years later, when sulfur springs were believed to have therapeutic properties, White Sulphur Springs, on the banks of the Suwannee River, became one of Florida’s first commercial tourist attractions. By the early 1900s, the debut of glass-bottomed boats gave tourists a fish’s-eye view of Florida’s springs, and the pristine underwater landscapes attracted early filmmakers. Dozens of movies and television shows were filmed underwater at Silver Springs, a group of springs in Marion County, alone, including “Sea Hunt” and “The Creature From the Black Lagoon.”
Florida has the densest collection of freshwater springs on the planet. Every day, the state’s more than 1,000 freshwater springs collectively discharge billions of gallons of groundwater to the surface. Springs provide critical habitat for aquatic animals, including the iconic Florida manatee, and anchor Florida’s inland water-based recreation industry. Visitors from around the world come to Florida’s springs to fish, kayak, tube, swim and scuba dive through the miles of underwater caves that connect springs to the aquifer and pipe water to the surface. Springs tourism injects cash into rural economies across the state.
And yet, despite their fundamental role in the state’s tourism industry, Florida’s springs are at the center of a slow-motion environmental tragedy.
Over the last several decades, a combination of development, population growth, climate change, overpumping of the aquifer and pollution from agriculture and sewage have wreaked havoc on Florida’s springs. Many springs show significantly reduced water flow. Others have stopped flowing entirely.
The successful eelgrass replanting project hasn’t solved all of Crystal River’s problems. Sea level rise and groundwater pumping continue to reduce the flow of water to Crystal River’s springs, and the water that comes out continues to get a little saltier. While there’s clearly still work to do, steady improvements in water clarity and a growing manatee population are supporting a thriving ecotourism industry and show what can be accomplished when state governments and local communities work together and draw upon scientific data to save their springs.
Jason Gulley is an associate professor of geology at the University of South Florida, dive instructor and an environment, science and expedition photographer based in Tampa, Fla. You can follow his work on Instagram.